Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

[okteiviakom]

Yesterday had been a loss, at least when it came to getting anything productive done. On Thursday, however, Octavia was back to her routines, working at Covent Garden. She liked this time of year in the shop: the end-of-year holiday season was over, but it'd still be a while before the annoying Valentine's Day related orders started rolling in. As a consequence, there was more time to actually work on displays and just deal with the year-round stock a little more.

The radio was airing Envy Adams's NYE show and Octavia found herself occasionally tapping along to the beat with one foot while she checked on some of the potted plants.

She was also studiously ignoring the tea set. Sorry, Seivarden.

[ooc: Open!]

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[okteiviakom]

"It is," Octavia murmured. She'd purposefully led them to a spot away from any possibility of being seen through the crack in the door. "Not ideal --" Her ideal had rapidly become the galley on the Cape Rouge, which was not an option for them. "-- but it's enough."

She just didn't want to be seen.

A breath, and she added, "Try it if you don't believe me." But it wasn't about thinking he didn't or wouldn't believe her. It was an invitation.

[sake_shinigami]

"Oh, I believe you ♥," Shunsui assured her, even if it wasn't about that, "but I'll try it, all the same."

Just a tilt of his head and his hand drifting from Octavia's shoulder to her chin, lightly lifting it under a curled finger to make it just that much easier for his lips to find hers again.

[okteiviakom]

It was light to begin with, this time, too.

But this time Octavia shifted closer to him without prompting, and her free hand came up to stroke the line of his jaw. So 'tentative' was out the window for now.

[sake_shinigami]

For now. And, with the hopes to make it for a while, Shunsui kept it light, too, slow, languid, for now, following Octavia's lead just as easily as he'd followed her back there in the first place.

[okteiviakom]

It was the smart choice. And although smart choices weren't necessarily Octavia's forte, she was going with one now. Just slowly relaxing into it all without rushing, just letting herself feel every little detail.

After a moment, still keeping the kiss nice and slow, she finally let go of his hand, but only so that she could try and urge his arm around her waist. She wanted that to be a thrill in her spine and not the cage it had turned into when she'd been all too aware that someone might walk in.

[sake_shinigami]

She didn't gave to try very hard. The moment Octavia let go of his hand, Shunsui's arm was almost already moving that way. Almost. But he waited, and then her finders confirmed, and his arm was back around her to hold her. Then he stopped, for a moment, for his own breath, though in that moment, he had to push down the temptation to duck his head, start kissing along her cheek, down her neck, that temptation that always insisted it never hurt to try, even when he knew for a fact when it would.

But he didn't. Not now, not yet, returning his lips of Octavia's with just a bit more of his own eagerness behind it.

[okteiviakom]

They'd only just barely made it past what had tripped Octavia up in the store proper, so it was probably for the best not to rush.

But they had made it past it. Just like she'd thought, and hoped, this time his arm wrapping around her waist didn't set off any warning signals in her brain. This time, it was a little more like that first time at the onsen, when his arm had just felt faintly reassuring: this time, it was just... nice, and she could just allow herself to enjoy being that close to him.

Her now-free hand slid up to the back of his neck, as if he needed any extra incentive or encouragement to keep ducking down to meet her. She could tell he didn't, she could feel it in the subtle shift in the kiss --

And she responded in kind, with just a little more eagerness, a little more hunger.