#THIS IS AN INSANE AMOUNT OF EXPOSITION FOR YOUR STOIC BACKSIDE ]

[tempestforged]

--- LUNAETIS (RIKA): preplanned

->-> It wasn't often he could say he stayed in the apartment for anything more than sleep, long hours voluntarily taken keeping him away from the scarcely decorated abode that seemed to have seen such extreme uptick in activity since she'd decided that his was closer to stay in for her daily commute. Perhaps it was overdue for him to admit he enjoyed the way the apartment seemed more alive with her, with their, presence.

Rika had been an unexpected surprise in his day to day, popping up in his office without a care to pull him out for lunch or, more commonly, drinks when he seemed to get lost with his thoughts. He tried, at first, to keep her at arm's length only to sigh and reluctantly allow her to insert herself into his day to day without hesitation. Of course, he truly hadn't expected Poppy to hang from her side on the nights where he resigned himself to not completing overtime, the girl running around like children should, hugging Komala and Clodsire whenever she could.

Perhaps, just perhaps, he'd encouraged it to a degree with the plushes he'd purchased from excess salary, leaving them on the shelf in the smallest bedroom for whenever she'd requested as professionally as a child could to stay the night, knowing he'd call into work to use one of the myriad days off he rarely took to keep her occupied. Truly he couldn't remember when it'd happened, when the apartment had stopped feeling like somewhere he slept and turned into a home, and if he did he'd never admit it to her face.

She smiled more than enough for both of them in his opinion, such a heartwarming grin in the photos that had mysteriously appeared on the walls. Photos of amusement parks where stoic features were softer than he'd expected, photos of her hugging an oversized plush that lingered in his spare bedroom, of Poppy nestled carefully on his shoulder as Corvisquire curled around her shoulders protectively. Perhaps it had been a forgone conclusion when he woke up one morning to Rika curled into his side without a care, like it was second nature for the woman to be in his bed, for her clothes to make a noticeable aesthetic difference in his wardrobe, they were domestic in a way.

Perhaps it was the reasoning they were so domestic that he was up earlier than he usually would, suit jacket neatly folded on the stool as he worked his way around the kitchen, eggs carefully prepared and placed on the plate as toaster dinged for perfectly browned bread with the most careful amounts of butter, all placed onto the tray as his foot nudged the bamboo shoot into his dear friends waiting paws. He hears the subtle taps of Clodsire pushing the door open for him as he walks, placing the tray on the locker in that familiar daily routine.

" Rika, you're going to be late... " it really was criminal that she needed to be awoken when she looked far too peaceful

>> [@lunaetis]