Marlene McKinnon had never been the sort of person one would describe as a loner. She wasn’t socially awkward in the slightest, nor was she quiet, broody (except on particularly momentous occasions), or detached from the goings-on around her. She was more of the bold-and-brash sort, not always in the best ways, but it was who she was, and she was content in herself.
Only, she’d been dead. And she remembered being dead. It was all a bit hazy and surreal feeling now; after a year alive and well in Vallo, few memories of that time lingered. But she knew it to be unequivocally true.
What had lingered was a strange sense of unease. She had never let it show – not even to Emmeline, who typically knew from a glance what was bothering her even after years apart – but she’d felt it for months. She was alive, but she wasn’t entirely herself. She isolated and settled into a routine, and she hadn’t veered much outside of that or the set social group that came with Emmeline and Carol, and she’d allowed herself to be okay with that.
That had all shifted upon the arrival of a big-eared cat.
Marlene absolutely believed in signs, fate, the whims and will of the universe. Vallo seemed to do what it pleased when it pleased, and she supposed that was where Deci the Cat had come in. Vallo had ended her isolationist streak the day after he strolled into her Morningside flat uninvited, although not unwelcome. And for the first time in her year of new life in this strange little universe, she felt more herself than ever.
Becoming a social being again meant she was making connections of her own without Carol or Emme’s hand in the mix. Chief among those were Thalia, the gorgeous demigod who was teaching her to skate, and Iris, the dashing hero who had helped her confirm Deci’s status as an orphan before she’d formally adopted her feline friend.
Deci would, unfortunately, be missing this afternoon with Iris. She left her cat to entertain himself while she went to meet Iris for a chocobo race. She knew only vaguely what that entailed and what the chocobos were, but she was never one to turn down a challenge. It was something different, hopefully fun, and combined with yet another opportunity to spend time with Iris, it was a winning afternoon regardless of race results.
It wasn’t until she got a good look at these chocobos – birds, apparently, of the very large sort – that she became a bit skeptical.
“Well,” she said, eyeing the bird with wide-eyed fascination as she approached the stalls with her arm looped around Iris’s. “S’pose they’re sturdier than your average broomstick, aren’t they?”
"And a lot more temperamental," answered Iris, adding in a soft little shoulder bump to cement the answer. With her free hand, she reached over to a basket and pulled out a couple of gysal greens. "However, they're pretty easy to win over if you give them their favorite treat."
She'd only really known Marlene for a short while and, as anyone with eyes could see, was already into her. Iris herself was a very casual person, she'd never really had relationships - having all her teen and adult years spent in a daemon-infested endless night really didn't allow for romance or anything long-term. And Vallo was better, but difficult forming anything if the person could disappear the next day. Still, she refused to judge anyone who made a go of it because, hey, life's short, love is love, and do what makes you happy.
Plus she really liked Marlene's accent. She hadn't heard many people who talked like Ignis and something about it just made her feel kind of, it was hard to put into words, but, comfortable, maybe? Whatever, she didn't want to dwell on it. Enjoy the moment. It helped that she was really nice to look at, too. All of the above made for a nice surprise when she had shown up to help find Deci's possible owner.
Speaking of owners, she pointed over at a teal-colored chocobo. "And that's Mr. Timms. He's officially my chocobo and today, if you want, you can ride him. I can promise he'll behave. The others, well, you're kind of on your own."
Well, if Iris was confident these birds wouldn’t be troublesome, Marlene was confident, too. She’d taken Care of Magical Creatures back in school, and while these blokes hadn’t been among those creatures, she was capable enough to figure out how to conduct herself. They looked infinitely less dangerous than hippogriffs, if there was nothing else to be said for them.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Timms,” Marlene chuckled, snagging one of those greens out of Iris’s hand to offer it to the teal bird. “I hope you don’t mind being kind to a beginner. Looks like I may be in for a bit of a bumpy ride regardless of my choice of steed, though, yeah?”
Mr. Timms didn't seem to care one way or another who fed him, but he was at least willing to give the hand with the greens an affectionate bump with his beak before accepting the treat. And several of the other chocobos saw one of their own getting a treat and started being attentive in their own stalls.
"Now that I've ridden a horse, I can say they aren't much different. The feathers on their backs are a lot more absorbent than you might think." Iris watched Marlene over her shoulder, enjoying the sight of her befriending her bird. Different kind of pet, sure, but she was confident Deci would be okay with it. She turned back to the other stalls and pondered for a moment.
"Now do I want to borrow Noct's Tuna, Gladio's Carp, or Iggy's Barramundi? Or one of Wiz's stock, which I'm sure I'd need to rent, so maybe just one I'm allowed to ride for free." She eyed the white, yellow, and black birds respectively, trying to gauge which one might be in the best mood today. "I don't know if any of them are quite as fast as Mr. Timms, but I love them anyway."
Mr. Timms seemed quite friendly, and Marlene appreciated that greatly. She reached out to tentatively stroke his beak, and thankfully, it was well-received. Any remaining nerves she’d held onto were thoroughly soothed, at least when it came to this particular chocobo. She still wasn’t entirely convinced riding them would be a smooth affair, but she was willing to take Iris at her word.
“All fish names, hm?” She turned her gaze to where Iris was evaluating the three other birds. “They’re all beautiful birds, but the black one, he’s quite stunning.” The obsidian feathers made for a slightly sleeker appearance, from her vantage point.
"Noct loves fishing, so I guess the boys just followed suit. My brother is super creative, as you can tell, and Iggy isn't Iggy if he doesn't go overboard just a bit." She smiled as she answered, clearly adoring those guys, whether they deserved it or not. "I'm sure Prom will have one here sooner or later, but for now this is it until you get to the rentals."
She approached Barramundi and offered him a gysal, cooing softly at him as she reached up to stroke his neck. "Thanks for picking my ride for me. I'm sure Iggy won't mind, as long as I take good care of him."
“We’ll be kind to him,” Marlene chuckled, turning her attention back to Mr. Timms to tentatively stroke her hand down his feathered cheek. “You’ll have to be gentle with me the first go round, yeah? I have no doubt Mr. Timms is incredibly speedy, but I’d settle for… moderately speedy to adjust.”
"Mm, we can go as fast or as slow as you like," responded Iris, innuendo dripping from the comment. The last part of the sentence even came with a bit of a grunt as she hefted the saddle up onto Barramundi. The birds were at least considerate enough to lower their bodies for the saddling, otherwise it would be a giant pain in the ass to get them ready to go.
"Let me get this one ready and then I'll sort yours out. Or you can give it a try and I'll just double-check to make sure it's nice and secure?" She gave a bit of a bright smile to show either answer was fine, not some kind of challenge, and then returned to quickly finish up her task.
If Barramundi’s example was any indication, Marlene didn’t think saddling Mr. Timms here seemed like some unfathomable task. “I’ll give it a go,” she answered amiably. She could tell Iris was sincere, that she didn’t have to, but why not? She was here to do a new thing, and tossing a saddle on the bird was part of the task at hand.
The saddle was pretty weighty, but there was a quick fix for that. She drew her wand from her pocket; a flick, swish, and muttered incantation later, she managed to maneuver the saddle onto Mr. Timms’ back without much struggle. Now it was just a matter of making sure he was all buckled in properly.
"Oh, nice," chirped Iris, having glanced over just in time to see all this happen. "I'd forgotten about cheating," she added, laughing lightly as she adjusted the buckles on her saddle. Inwardly, she was proud of Mr. Timms not balking at the sight of a floating saddle and honestly thought that was probably even a better way of getting them loaded up. No human trying to reach and adjust. She patted Barramundi on the chest to 'tell' him that she was done and he could return to his feed.
"Ready to ride?"
Marlene placed a hand on her chest as if offended by these cheating allegations, but she was smiling the whole time, entirely unphased. Magic was such an ingrained part of her life, from infancy onward, that it was second nature to use it as a helping hand. She liked to use her hands as much as possible for daily tasks, but she knew her limits. Saddling a horse-like bird was absolutely one of them.
“I am,” she agreed. “But!” She paused for a moment, studying Iris’s face before deciding, why the hell not? “I think I may need a dash of good luck.”
The accusation had the intended result, at least. She didn't think for a second that Marlene would've taken offense and was glad to see she had been right. Iris was a generally good judge of character. For the most part. But she still did her best to make her tone match her intention and was happy when it landed well.
She watched Marlene's expression and could swear there was a slight twinkle in her eye with the comment about needing some luck. Girl was magic, so maybe there was. But it was enough to make Iris adopt a sly little smile and take a bit of a saunter towards Marlene, where she reached up and fiddled with the front of her shirt.
"I happen to think I'm pretty lucky, if you want to rub some off."
“Ohhh, be careful what you wish for, my dear,” Marlene chuckled. There was, in fact, a bit of a twinkle in her eyes, accompanied by the slice of a smirk. All innuendo for the moment. She was taking these adventures of hers much slower than she had as a wild child back in her school days. She was older now, perhaps more so mentally than ever, and she wanted to be careful for once.
She didn’t say anything else, just slipped her hands up Iris’s shoulders and tugged her slowly forward to seal their lips together. Her heart fluttered with excitement and a touch of uncertainty – it had been a long while, too long – but excitement quickly took the lead, and even her stomach swooped, following suit.
Iris had meant what she said earlier. As fast or as slow as Marlene wanted. So she didn't put too much pressure onto this, just leaned into the kiss and wrapped a hand around Marlene's waist to really just enjoy the contact. The closeness. It was nice - really nice. She was reminded again of how anything that passed as a relationship for her were generally just events of convenience, so she was determined to do better this time.
After a few lengthy moments, she smiled into the kiss, keeping her lips against Marlene's, and then leaned her forehead against the other woman's to allow herself a chance to speak. "Mm, that answers one question I had."
Oh, that was beyond nice. Marlene felt fuzzy and warm in ways she couldn’t express. Merlin, she’d forgotten how much she loved being bloody kissed. She could easily elect to just do this instead of taking a ride on a chocobo, honestly. But they’d come this far; the race would go on.
Eventually.
“Hm?” One hand raised to loop gently into Iris’s dark curls, blue eyes soft and a bit hazed. “What question would that be?”
"I was a bit curious how soft those lips were and what they felt like." Iris smiled in a way that made her eyes crinkle up a bit. "Question answered," she added, leaning her cheek into the hand entwined in her hair. She liked this. Gods above, it was incredible having someone actually interested in you for more than what you can do for them or 'just friends.'
"Though," she added, pausing. "Unless you want to see how comfortable the caravan here is, maybe we should go for that ride before my hands get the better of me."
“Let’s go then,” Marlene chuckled. “But be warned, I will be intent on finding out just what those hands of yours can do the moment we’ve crossed that finish line.”
Iris' eyes widened for a second as her lips thinned into an appreciative smile. "Mount up, then, McKinnon. Let's get these birds in gear." She stepped back, letting a hand linger just long enough until she was too far away to keep hold before dropping her hand to her side and turning to climb up on Barramundi.
"Follow the flags, I'll be waiting for you at the end."
Follow the flags, she said, as if such a task was simple. Marlene had gone horse riding exactly once, and flying on broomsticks didn’t compare in the slightest. Mr. Timms seemed easily led, though, and slowed to Marlene’s pace while her nerves and she clung tight to the reins. And when she eased up, he seemed to take that as his cue to dash onward.
It proved what Iris had told her, though – the feathers were quite absorbent. The path may be bumpy and winding at points, but she was barely jostled. She appreciated that.
But, to the surprise of no one, she came in second to Iris and Barramundi. A close second but second no less. She couldn’t bring herself to care; the second they had both dismounted, she was grabbing Iris’s hands to pull her in for another kiss. If she was completely honest, she’d been more concerned with this than winning the entire race.
“You have not convinced me to join a race yet,” she murmured, “but another go-round and you might succeed.”
Iris had enjoyed the wind in her hair, the rush of going for a ride at high speeds, and the sheer fun of riding on a chocobo. But all of that was momentarily forgotten when she got pulled into another kiss. She was glad the 'race' didn't dim Marlene's mood, she'd had the brief concern that the first time on a chocobo might have the opposite effect - she'd seen a few people come off with wobbly legs, wide-eyed 'no-thank-you' expressions, and even a few vomiters. She'd figured a broom-riding witch would have no problems with it, though.
"Hm, what kind of go-round are you thinking?"
Maybe it was because of her experience flying, or maybe it was because her mood had turned amorous with that first kiss back in the stables, but she was entirely unfazed by her chocobo ride. It had been enjoyable, yes, but this was even more so. Her arms wound around Iris’s neck, and she smiled at her, that mischievous sparkle back in her eyes.
“On the birds, of course,” she drawled playfully. “What do you take me for, darling?”
"Someone who likes to go for a ride, clearly," answered Iris, matching the playful tone. "Though," she began, pulling Marlene a bit closer. "If you like holding on this way, I think Mr. Timms can carry us both." She raised an eyebrow, as if to both gauge a reply and offer kind of a fun little challenge.
"Maybe I can teach you a bit more about guiding with your thighs."
Marlene’s eyebrows shot up and she laughed. She hadn’t been expecting that kind of retort, but she should have been. Iris had matched her energy from the very start – it was what she liked so much about her. And the offer she made wasn’t one she was bound to refuse.
“I’d like that very much,” she agreed.
With another smirk, Iris extricated herself from Marlene and climbed up into Mr. Timms' saddle before offering down a hand to help her up. Mr. Timms let out a little squawk at the extra weight, but after some soothing strokes along his neck, he settled into it just fine. Iris guided him back toward the track and promised him some extra feed when they were done, because it was important to spoil your bird.