LEARN FROM THE PAST.

…She kissed him. In his fumbling for words it caught him by surprise and speechless after with slowly blinking eyes. It was…so different then the usual. Simple but well meaning; no crush of lips or pain of teeth. The silence was filled with his loss of words and quickly reddening face.

The message came across and here he was getting all bashful. All their revelry and all he’s really wanted was a meaningful moment. His face lit up at her acceptance, shaking off his shock finally.

Rush of emotions tempered. It was time to be present for Sada. “ …I think you’re doing an incredible job for you and your son already.”

Willow goes for a broomstick. This was like any other day helping with housework.

( everything had to be calculated, everything had to be so precise. even when she left room for error, she knew those wouldn't have mattered in the grand scheme of things. who would she be if she didn't ? who would she be if she made a mistake ? she doesn't get to fail, not when it's her, not when it's her mother who birthed her, not when she was made a woman. )

WHAT IF THIS RELATIONSHIP, TOO, WAS DESTINED TO END.

❝ i'll do it scared. ❞

he settles against her, and sada doesn't move.

that's because you're simple, she wants to say. THE IMPULSE TO BRING HIM DOWN WITH HER is right there, but she holds off. for some reason, she keeps it in, and doesn't let it go. IS IT SO BAD ? is this simplicity really such a bad thing ? as far as she knows, it's what's keeping him here.

with her.

❝ ... okay, ❞ she says, finally. softly. the pile of towels she's been holding slides off her arms, fall onto the floor as she turns around, passing her arms between his, and stays there, forehead against his chest.

🔞 adults-only prompts for spicy interactions. content warnings for bd/sm kinks, rough kinks, bodily fluids, etc. nsft below! all prompts are written under the context of mutual consent.

i said this on @sankariia​ a while ago, but since i’m keeping here the fact that she’s my oc’s sister, sada’s family is quite big and has a few big names:

leon and hop. third cousins.

olivia and kukui. second cousins once removed. since kukui is married to burnet, she and their child is a part of the family too.

brawly. first cousin once removed, younger.

chuck. distant uncle. married into the family.

marlon. very distant cousin.

blaine. another distant uncle but closer to aria when it comes to coefficient of relationship compared to chuck.

spencer. great grand uncle.

“ Of course.” Her son. Seen sparingly in the background on screen during face calls throughout the years very young. Mostly introduced as exciting news between close colleagues, congratulating on a new baby years prior.

And well there was the passing conversations with him during his longer assigned stays in Paldea back when it just opened its gates to the world. Nothing serious either. Just a nod and a quick, excited handshake on his end over being friends with both his parents at one time.

“ I could tell how close you both are. He’s a swell kid. They should always come first. I…don’t want to get in the way. ” There’s only the faintest of assumptions he can make in context. Sada repairing a close, but delicate relationship with her son after a long absence means having very little room. Wish he stayed back longer to get better acquainted.

But she’s right…they both know he had to leave.

and now, he made it difficult to stop. turns out, SHE DIDN'T WANT TO STOP EITHER. he's in the middle of his rambling when she grabs him by the shoulder and forces him down into a kiss. it's far from those cries of passion they've had before: for once, IT'S SIMPLE.

❝ ... ❞ the silence in the lighthouse is DEFEANING. for a moment, she's waiting for him to say anything. and when he doesn't—

❝ WHAT THE HELL, SURE. ❞ almost as if nothing happened. she walks away, getting to a cubboard further in the house, getting clean towels. ❝ it's pretty much what you've been doing anyway, so, i can't see why THAT has to change. ❞ they're colleagues, and he's one of the few she actually respects. this is nothing.

she stops, immobile. she doesn't turn around.

❝ ... i don't want this to stop, either. ❞

❝ willow. ❞ she shifts. ❝ after turo, the metaphorical bedroom has been cold for a long time. ❞ UNTIL HE ARRIVED. ❝ and i considered a relationship to be a WASTE OF MY BRAIN SPACE. ❞

❝ this is something i WOULD like to change. ❞ even in the rare occasion sada is working through her feeling, she is METODICAL about it. ❝ i want you to know, ARVEN WILL ALWAYS BE MY PRIORITY. i have to make him my priority after leaving him for so long. ❞

…Business? …Oh. Business was with institution deans or government heads over emails or across a desk with paperwork. It was hard to hear she thinks this was a transaction the whole time.

But that was pain from an open heart that cared and felt very deeply. He falls quick and with enthusiasm so easily right before the pit fall. Work and a never ending mission to save the world took all of him eventually. It always does. It happened before. Made him promise he wouldn’t hurt someone like that again.

“ …Sada, you’re my best friend. Of course I’d do that for you. ” A slow smile returns. His hand gives her a warm and gentle squeeze. “ I came all the way from Kitakami to see if you needed me. I’d do it a million times over. More even. ”

It‘s happened before…falling deeply like this and letting everything else get in the way. He’s learned an important lesson.

Between the hurtful lines she’s admitting she feels something.

“ It’s okay to have feelings…and it’s okay to not know what to do with them.” I feel the same way. They both have demons. “ I won’t ask you to figure them out right away. It means a lot to me you’re being straightforward. You’re right. It doesn’t have to be hard for either of us.”

❝ NOT when i have arven. ❞ a slight shaking in her voice.

it had been easier to think about it as business. then it became fooling around. then, SHE ACTUALLY STARTED TO MISS HIM.

and every time she did, she thought of turo. and when that, too, dissipated, SHE THOUGHT OF ARVEN. would he be ready for something like that ? would he even CARE ?

she found that she wouldn't know what to do in both cases; one would mean that she was hurting her son, while the second would mean that SHE STILL WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM.

❝ i can't hurt him this way. ❞ he doesn't even know about willow. as far as she knows, THE TWO HAVE NEVER MET. ❝ but then you come over with your— STUPID SMILE, ❞

... admittedly, it's unnerving to look over someone's shoulder and see study notes of theirself on the table in front of them.

❛ did you find out anything new? ❜ a chittering noise resounds from the deep of their throat—a birdlike purr of sorts, ❛ i'm not boring you yet, right? ❜

❝ —to BOTH of your questions. ❞ nothing boring about sibyl, for sure. in her notebook lie NOTES, DRAWINGS AND DIAGRAMS; from the most pertinent observation to the least— but sada knew, NOTHING ABOUT THIS COULD BE DISCARDED.