strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-In Day

Entry tags:

[GP/EP] Check-In Day

Why Caroline had needed her to help with Check-In Day she hadn't bothered to say. Just, "you said you'd help," and when Regina protested she wasn't good with people, "aren't you a Queen or a Mayor or something?" complete with shooing gestures. While Regina found Caroline more exasperating the terrifying, she did have a point.

So Regina suited up--literally, gathered her files and folders, coffee mug, pens and pocketed the wooden carving of Henry/Roland Robin had made for her, then headed for the cafe. If, polished and politic and patently Busy, she didn't offer newcomers the brightest or warmest smile when they arrived, it was nevertheless confident and quite possibly reassuring.

Caroline did friendly. Regina...did knowledgeable and polite. Dot and Ignis had been asked to provide finger food on catering trays. The still-grieving Miss Pryde had been tasked with samovars of tea and coffee and ice chest of soda and beer. Caroline's welcome baskets sat on the table beside Regina's for easy access. And though she didn't when she was alone in the office, Regina spent the magic to fix her eyesight so she didn't put glasses between her and new arrivals.

Madame Mayor was in.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Naturally Regina had seen him enter. That was the point of sitting where she had: seeing people arrive. She still didn't know how to talk to him by daylight, which unsettled her briefly, but the feeling passed when he took a seat with a drink--and left a vague annoyance in its wake.

Their entire arrangement annoyed her at the moment. She could no longer deny the attraction. Nor could he. By night--and, she supposed, in privacy during the day--they needn't and didn't. But it wasn't a relationship. He wouldn't come take a place by her side, or call her 'love', or kiss her in greeting. Most of the time she appreciated the distinction but when it came to 'how do we act in public?' it left her uncertain and if there was anything Regina didn't like, it was not being sure of herself.

She let out a breath of a sigh, deliberately caught his gaze and lifted a brow, then equally deliberately pushed her hair behind her ear and went back to her paperwork.

He sipped his beer and smirked, now was that an invitation or a warning. He decided on the former and lazily got to his feet and ambled over to where she was working.

Doing what exactly he had no idea, did this place need all that much management? But she did seem intent.

"Keeping busy I see."

"Can't spend all of my time in the sauna," Regina murmured low. She didn't look up as she said it, but the corners of her mouth curled in a sly little smirk.

She did look up after and give him her most politic smile as she folded her hands on top of the file she was working on. "Dyson. What can I do for you this afternoon?"

He didn't see why not, there was little enough work of import to be done. The sauna was a reasonable alternative.

"I'm good, you just looked like you wanted me." Double meaning, why of course.

"Projecting, are we?" It lacked the nastiness of previous encounters, to be sure, but none of the edge, even if her smile never wavered. "Well, now that you're here, I suppose I could make use of you."

She considered him and her paperwork for a moment. "How are you with your hands?" Flirting? Certainly.

"I've never had any complaints," and he was certainly more than capable of anything she might need. Personally or publicly.

Regina took stock of the Cafe and judged those present capable of handling the situation for the time being. "I could use a hand with a problem in the kitchen."

Ignis was both blind and incredibly discreet. He would either ignore their presence or leave to avoid it all together.

"Heavy lifting?" He arched a brow at her, but was obviously willing to go with her.

"Taste-testing," came her almost too late to be quippy response. Her brain had gotten stuck on a particular image of 'lifting' that shut down the sass for a moment.

"You cook?" He teased, but he followed her readily enough already anticipating whatever she had in mind.

"Bake," she replied, slightly more seriously, but only very slightly.

It didn't take but a minute to get into the kitchen, locate Ignis by the stoves, and draw Dyson the other direction toward the walk-in stock closet.

"And cook poorly enough to know better than to attempt it." That was loud and entirely for Ignis's benefit. "But I think I saw what I was looking for in here."

Hardly subtle, but of anyone she'd met in the Inn even in passing, she judged Ignis least likely to gossip.

Dyson tracked her gaze to the man at the other end of the kitchen, assessed him as blind and suppressed a smile as he pulled open the closet door and gestured her inside.

"Just show me what you want and I'm at your disposal."

Her hand joined his on the handle of the stockroom door as she pulled it to behind them. It didn't lock from the inside but if she chose to, Regina could keep it closed easily enough.

What she chose in the moment was to 'show him' quite literally what she wanted by pointing to his reflection in the round mirror, high in the corner that let you see if anyone was coming around from behind the shelves. "That, there, is what I want." She turned a smoldering smile on him and after wetting her lips, took several steps into his physical space.

It took a moment for him to get it, and he chuckled, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.

"You know of course if we make too much noise that man will know exactly what we're doing." Enhanced hearing generally came with being sightless.

Eyes dark and lusty, Regina shrugged and grinned at him. "I like a little risk, the threat of discovery." Apparently she did with him, anyway. It was freeing not to be obsessing over whether it was okay to want the same things from her soulmate she did from Graham.

"A touch of exhibitionism?" He pulled her closer so they were pressed together knee to chest.

"Slightly obsessive about stolen privacy," she confessed, and ran her hands down his back to grip his particularly fine ass. She'd been either entirely in the public eye, or shut away in exile and ignored. Having the freedom to choose either or could still be intoxicating.

"And now that you have me in this semi private pantry, what do you plan to do with me?" He asked bending to nuzzle her throat.

"I hadn't gotten that far," she replied in a velvet murmur as her fingers slid through the back of his hair. When he did lift his head, she gave him a heated look that verged on fond and sought his mouth for a kiss.

Fond was okay, he was rather fond of her at the moment. He smiled into the kiss and returned it with increasing fervor as he let his hands wander over her back.

The parts of Regina that had been tense and knotted all day began to relax, not completely, because she'd have to pull herself together when they left again, but enough to let her breathe, enjoy the heat of his mouth on hers and the strength of his body beneath her hands. She nipped lightly at his bottom lip then kissed along his jaw to his throat. "Do we need a daytime version of the knock code, wolf?"

"I was assuming," he said tipping his head back to allow her access, smiling. "That the arched brow was the daytime equivalent."

"Mmm," she made a soft sound against his skin and nip-nuzzled up to the hinge of his jaw. "I raise my eyebrow so often. I'd hate--" a teasing purr across the word, signifying she did not hate and might very much enjoy "--for you to develop a Pavlovian arousal response."

He snorted, but his hands skimmed her shoulders to her back and lower.

"I'm harder to train than that."

But not too much harder.

"I'm not looking for a pet." His hands on her ass sent a wave of pleasure through her that had her on her toes to press flush against him.

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina

Re: For Regina