#caliester

He got his priorities straight😎

●

●

●

Took some photos with @justa_littlerose on Instagram. Because Calianna/Jester is my ship that I will stay aboard forever.

Calianna: me

Jester: @justa_littlerose (instagram)

Calianna fiddles with her dress while stealing looks at Jester in the firelight. Jester’s blue skin is beautiful in this light–in any light, really, Calianna thinks–and she wonders how it is that she can find Jester’s horns so pretty while disliking her own so much.

“Well, you know”, Jester says and Calianna automatically smiles when she hears Jester’s voice, “technically I’m not as much of an expert as people think.”

Calianna glances at Jester again while Jester keeps poking the fire with a long stick.

“Like, I read so many books, you know, but then, when I got out into the world more, I feel like it’s all a little different from what they write in those stories, you know?”

Calianna can’t say that she has read many books. Maybe she should have, or she wouldn’t be as clueless as she is now, sitting here on soft, green moss beside a campfire while contemplating the reasons for her accelerated heartbeat.

“How is it different?”, Calianna wants to know. Her throat feels surprisingly dry considering the fact that she just drank quite a lot of water and there’s a tingling in her belly that feels as if a whole bunch of ants are having a delightful party right inside her body.

“I think it’s maybe less… grand? But somehow… more real, you know. Well, technically it really is more real, so that’s kinda dumb, but. I just… I watched Nott and Yeza and how they found each other again and he tucked her into bed and kissed her even though she has so many teeth and they are very soft and they love each other so much and… in the books it’s more like… it’s a lot about sex and running away together and like… wild passion and…”

Jester trails off and looks into the flames, as if they can provide her with the right words for all those feelings.

“But I’m pretty sure they get some things right, you know, like, the butterflies in your stomach and when your heart beats really fast, like, crazy fast, when you look at that person, and when you just want to see them all the time and miss them when they are not around, you know? And also if you want to kiss them, like, a lot. I guess that would be like a total giveaway.”

Calianna swallows and listens inside herself. The ants might as well be butterflies, she supposes. Her heartbeat is definitively faster than it normally would be. And she sure does want to see Jester all the time.

While Jester keeps poking at the fire Calianna carefully steals a glance at Jester’s lips. They look… soft. It probably feels very nice to kiss Jester, to hug and hold her, to touch her hair and…

“Oh”, Calianna says softly into the night. Jester looks up and their eyes meet. The poking stops, but the butterflies or ants or whatever they might be just dance around even more.

“I think I really like you, Jester”, Calianna whispers. Jester blinks and drops her stick into the fire, her eyes going wide and her mouth opening slightly. Then she smiles and Calianna’s breath hitches in her throat.

“Does that mean you want to kiss me, like, all the time?”, Jester asks.

Cali ducks and pushes some hair behind her ear. She can feel her cheeks grow warm and it has nothing to do with the fire.

“M–maybe? I only just realized.”

“Oh. So… do you want to kiss me, like… right now?”, Jester wants to know.

Calianna swallows and then tries for a nod. Jester’s smile is positively blinding. Cali feels like the fire could go out and she would still see Jester glow in the dark.

“You know, in the books this whole reveal would have been totally dramatic with sword fights and shouting and some blood and someone almost dying, you know”, Jester says and scoots closer to Cali until their shoulders are pressed close together and Cali allows herself to exhale shakily.

“But the real stuff is pretty great too, you know”, Jester whispers. Cali can’t speak. She can’t think. The dragon inside her purrs and grins and hisses ‘Mine’ as Jester closes the distance between them and presses her lips against Cali’s.

They’re even softer than Cali has imagined them to be.