#❘❙❚ ┊ l. chanthara. v. 2 ➳ ❛ there’s no way to be a perfect mother & a million ways to be a good one ❜

[mystiika]

lyn tag drop

[mystiika]

lyn tag drop

[mystiika]

@shimmerseas​​  —  tida & lyn.

   when ice & new were called into the office, lyn couldn’t help the worry that rose in her chest — the way it always seemed to when she went from a group setting to 1 on 1. she was outgoing as a general rule, but felt most comfortable in a group setting where there was less pressure to constantly participate in conversation. still, she liked tida from what time they’d spent together with the others, & so did rai ( a feat that was nothing to be snuffed at ), but this would be the first time they’d hung out just the two ( or three ) of them & she couldn’t help much but wonder if they’d be able to carry a conversation without ice & new to help facilitate. in the end there was nothing to worry about, a fact she knew deep down already. they’d found more in common than ever before, the most recent topic being a personal favourite of hers: terrible, over the top, reality shows.

        ❝ god, everyone on the show is just... wow. i find it so hard to believe they aren’t just playing characters. i mean, did you see what sean said during his aside with the camera? he’s about to get himself kicked off if he’s not careful. ❞

   she speaks in hushed tones, her attention gone from the play in front of him. luckily, they were in the back of the audience, letting them get away with conversation where they might have otherwise been scolded by nearby watchers. even so, her words remain whispers for fear of evoking the wrath of the people in front of them, & worst still, appearing disrespectful to the actors on stage.

   it had started with her leaning back on her hands, the texture of the grass pressing into her palms even through the blanket they’d laid on the ground. her gaze lifts from the pop up stage to the beautiful day around them. the park was busy, but not stifling, from the foot traffic, the air feeling fresher than most days & the sun flitting through the movement of the leaves in the tree above them. but of course her mind eventually went to rai, as it so often does. & the sight brings a smile to her face. she knew tida had lost interest in the play some time ago ( not that she could blame him, the rewritten version of the show wasn’t exactly a masterpiece ), & at some point had started playing with rai. the soft giggles from her daughter in combination with the genuine smile on tida’s face made her heart flutter. just for a moment.

   then a conversation began again, quickly moving from one topic to another until they could no longer remember their starting point. she had no complaints though, she was happy to find how easily she could talk to him without the aid of her cousins. as their chat continues & naturally tapers off yet again, her gaze wonders once more. this time it’s caught by a bustling crowd beyond the stage at what looked like some sort of a pop up flea market.  

        ❝ that looks fun. ❞ she muses aloud, accompanied with a nod of her head in the direction of the tents, her arms too busy holding herself upright to point. ❝ we’re not paying much attention to this anyway. ❞ she lets out a small laugh at that, glad that shakespeare in the park was free. it wasn’t that she would have been unhappy to pay for the entertainment, but unfortunately the duo didn’t find it all that entertaining & she’d have felt obligated to stay the entire play through if she’d paid for tickets. ❝ what do you say we blow this popsicle stand? & maybe get some food after too? i’m getting kinda hungry & i heard there’s a restaurant a couple blocks from here that’s doing half price wings right now. ❞ at least if the flea market had no appeal, the prospect of wings definitely would.

[mystiika]

@shimmerseas​​ asked: “Did that make sense or was it the wine talking?” & “  do you want me to go?  ”

   the babysitter phaelyn had lined up had to cancel, & ice & new were away on business which meant that the dinner date she & tida had planned together was an absolute bust. but ! not to fret, she was nothing if not resourceful. they moved the coffee table from her living room & had a lovely indoor dinner picnic on the floor. they’d even turned on the fireplace channel on the tv for added ambience. rai had long since been put to bed, & the remaining duo was already on their second bottle of wine. 

     ❝ hm... ❞ she hums in thought, followed by another sip from her nearing empty glass. ❝ a little of both? ❞ there’s a playful smile on her face. ❝ —but don’t worry, even the nonsense is cute, ❞ as if that would be reassuring. with one more tilt of her glass, she swallows the last of her wine, eyeing the bottle for a moment but opts to simply leave the now empty glass off to the side rather than going for a refill. maybe later, but for now there was something she’d like to do a little bit more.

   a few seconds later, she’s scooting over towards him, resting her head on tida’s shoulder as she stares at the screen of crackling fire. she finds herself taking his hand into her own, playing with it gently, enjoying the way her fingers seem to fit into his so well. ❝ this is nice, ❞ she breathes. the two had spent so much time dancing around the topic of dating, neither wanting to make the first move. but now that they have, every moment feels like a sigh of relief. she needs to keep reminding herself that it’s not a dream, that she really managed to find someone as amazing as him, that accepts her & her past & most importantly, accepts sarai.

   she closes her eyes for a moment, simply enjoying his touch & scent of him. she lets out a small yawn, more from the feeling of being as relaxed as she is rather than one out of sleepiness. then she hears his voice cut the silence.

                                                                                    ❝ do you want me to go? ❞

   she sits up at that, turning in place to face him, lips frowning, hurt by the mere idea of him leaving. ❝ no. ❞ her voice is quiet but her tone is firm. even so, she looks towards him, eyes wide with adoration & it’s followed by a  ❝ don’t go... please? hm? ❞ she’s pleading now, not quite ready for the night to end.

   perhaps a kiss would aid in her case, so she sits up a little taller, leaning in to press a chaste kiss to his lips. then another ( a little less so ). ❝ are you sure i can’t convince you? i can be very persuasive. ❞ her forehead rests against his, a soft smile on her face. she’s tempted to go in again, ready to be as drunk on his lips as she is from the wine but she supposes she should at least give him the opportunity to respond — if he so chooses, that is.

[mystiika]

@shimmerseas​​​ continued from here.

  a brochure has made it into Lyn’s hands, courtesy of an overeager saleswomen at this mall, trying to convince them to visit her establishment: a spa. something-something about a couples package, and they don’t really have the time to explain that it’s not... really what it looks like– they weren’t a couple couple– before she flitters off to someone else she sees as an easy target. ( just as well, though: maybe he doesn’t really want to explain that, anyway... ) Lyn unfurls the folded pages, though he can’t tell if it’s because she’s actually interested in spa’s, or just curious about the flyer that’s been so aggressively pawned off on her. either way, he peers over her shoulder to peep it, too– not minding the excuse to be this close to her, close enough to pick up a hint of her shampoo... not minding it all. he has to snort when he sees it, though: the design choices of this ad were wildly outdated; the high dollar prices of the package were in boldface comic sans, and there was use of obvious stock images ( with a large watermark included. ) “ looks like someone designed this on microsoft paint... before we were born. ” clearly, their expensive prices weren’t paying a graphic designer’s salary...

  his amusement halts with her reply, though... eyes turn away from the paper to look at her face, still from a convenient vantage point over her shoulder: convenient because she can’t see the change in demeanor, suddenly much more intently interested in Phaelyn – in particular, kind of curious about what the last two words of that sentence entails, for her – than he is in the paper. “ do you want to go? ” it was pricey, but... if it made her feel good, worth it, obviously.

  on the other hand, he’s not really seeing anything in these pictures that someone couldn’t do at home, so it’s kind of weird. “ couldn’t you do all that for free, right now? ” not that he wants to discourage her from taking a spa-day: he just genuinely has no idea, never having been to any sort of luxury resort like that. baths and candles and a relaxation playlist, she surely already owns, and massages... well, he wouldn’t charge for it, that’s for sure, and he doubts he’s the only one. OF COURSE, he wasn’t going to say that, because offering a massage to your friend who you have a secret crush on is not just weird and a creep move, but also a terrible idea overall – almost guaranteed to end in awkwardness and the end of the ‘secret’ part of that crush... big oof. he’s wandered off to look at her from a more safe distance now, taking a sip of his drink from the food court, very casual. ( or so he tries to be. ) “ 'no-one in your DM’s you like that much? ”  there must be someone who likes her that much, at least: who wouldn’t want to shoot their shot with Lyn? still, it’s posed like nothing more than the question of a nosy friend, prying into her love life, because that’s what friends do! of course... why else would he want to know if there’s someone she’s interested in... ?

   she’d watched from a few steps away as the stranger badgered the pamphlet into tida’s hands, almost amused by the interaction. she began to wonder if she should intervene & pull tida away from the situation but before she could make a decision either way, he was released from the conversation, almost rushing to pass the paper off to her. it’s upside down when she receives it, quickly flipping it before pulling it open to take in the rather... questionable design choices. she’s only half paying attention though, his proximity poses a distraction unbeknownst to him. phaelyn is left to fight off the thoughts on her own, though maybe she leans a little bit towards him, to stand a little closer. but almost definitely just to make it easier for him to read from where he peered over her shoulder. it wasn’t at all the fact she wanted to stand near him. she bites her lips as means for a distraction, unwillingly to delve further into just why she was acting the way she was but between the swirling thoughts that result she manages to go out a quick, ❝ yeah that sounds about right. ❞ the agreement is accompanied with a suppressed smile, not quite wanting to show it as the result of a mean comment but it couldn’t be helped. the point was painfully accurate.

     ❝ i don’t know about going, it doesn’t exactly seem... financially worth it? ❞ it’s posed as a question but it’s more of a statement than anything. she couldn’t imagine spending that kind of money on a spa ( whether it lived up to the rather seemingly hyperbolic claims or not ).

   she presses per lips together in an attempt to stifle the coming laugh but fails miserably. ❝ yeah... i don’t really check my dms, nothing good ever comes of it. ❞ ( but that’s a can of worms she has no interest in opening up ). ❝ —but what do you mean right now? ❞ it’s a valid question. the idea that it was stuff that could be done at home was one thing, but the time implication was something that stuck out as an odd choice of words, at least in her mind. ❝ are you some sort of secret masseuse? ❞

[mystiika]

@shimmerseas​​​ asked: “  you’re really beautiful. even if you drool.  ”

     ❝ you really know how to flatter a girl, don’t you... ❞ it sounds like a compliment, but it doesn’t exactly feel like one. ❝ if you saw me drooling, no you didn’t. ❞

[mystiika]

@shimmerseas​​​ asked: he sneaks (not very sneakily) behind Phaelyn while her backs turned to him, her eyes on a game she's casually playing off-stream— something that, while probably a fun thing to do, is Not paying attention to him. which is completely fine, of course; he can entertain himself when she's busy... BUT, he likes her attention... very much. kind of cannot get enough of it, actually. this leaves him no choice but to compete with this game for it — draping arms to cross around her, into a comfortably close embrace, resting against her shoulder with a smile that is equal parts mischief and adoration. " hi. " a greeting that is really more of a statement: a warning, if you will, that he is here and has come to collect attention unless, or until, she sends him away. a kiss to her cheek... a kiss to her shoulder. and he realizes that actually, the split attention wouldn't be so bad either: he would be content to stay like this, if she let him. "what are you playing?"

     ❝ fuck fuck fuck. ❞

   she’d taken the day off streaming, hoping for some less intense game play but apparently there’s no rest for the wicked when league drops a new champion. a champion she was decidedly NOT having fun playing against ( fucking rell ). so, as a way to chill out once more, she opts for a some apex legends. perhaps not quite relaxing but it’s a more monotone way to get out some of the pent up aggression. she wasn’t sure how long she’d been playing by the time tida makes his appearance, but the warm arms that wrap around her seem to serve as a much better stress reliever, happily leaning back into his embrace. ❝ hi. ❞ she’s not sure if he can see her smile, but the kisses only serve to widen it. ❝ i’m playing apex. ❞ she could stand to lose this one though, being the only member of her squad left alive it wasn’t one she could solo. so she takes a calculated risk, ending with a shot from a sniper she pretended she didn’t know was there. with a smile that largely contrasts the outcome of her game, she’s not quite ready to leave his arms, so she opts to turn her head alone towards him.

     ❝ sir, i think you missed. ❞ she pouts her lips too, in case it wasn’t obvious.

[mystiika]

tag drop 18/?