"Right then, I'm off." He hugs his sister goodbye, nods to the Emperor, and departs through the portal with a casual wave.

... Esvetielle indulges in a sigh, mildly sad about her brother's departure. She only just got him back, and he's away on an adventure. This is understandable and she doesn't want to demand that he immediately spend time with her while he's under a time crunch, but that doesn't make it suck less.

"D'you want a hug?"

She gives him an assessing look, then smiles slyly.

"No, I'd like to cuddle."

"Suits me."

He scoops her up and carries her off to bed.

She eeps with surprise, then lets out a little laugh.

"I can walk, you know." But it does not sound like she minds the alternative.

"But I like carrying you."

He kisses the end of her nose and sets her down on the bed and snuggles up next to her.

Esvetielle notes how she liked him carrying her too, that also he brought her to his bed, and that now that she thinks about it, she'd probably enjoy it more if he snuggled up on top of her, and now she's a faint shade of pink and is trying not to think about any of those things. Nope. None of those things.

"Well," she says, her voice catching a little, "all right then."

...he smiles, but doesn't say anything. Instead: cuddles.

Yep, cuddling, that is nice and wholesome. Except for the part where it involves lots of close bodily contact. In his bed. Except for that part.

She searches about for a topic of conversation to distract from the sexual tension. Possibly in vain. "You're, um. You can call me Eselle, you know. If you want."

"Okay." Snuggle. "You have a pretty name. Both of them."

Snuggle. "Well, thank you. Occasionally I worry my full name's a bit, ah. Long and unwieldy. But it's too weird for people I don't know to use my nickname. Too... overly familiar."

Yes, good. Conversation. That helps with her problem. A little.

"I don't mind whichever name you want to call me when we're alone, but I do try to keep Sekar the friendly architect separate from the Emperor in people's minds generally. Your brother is obviously also an exception."

"Sure. I'll avoid upsetting the balance between Sekar the friendly architect and the Emperor. So in front of non-brother people, that'd be, what. Emperor when I'm playing up the meekness and possibly trying to make you sound scary, Solekaran when I'm not? Do people call you by your actual name or do they just quiver in terror?"

"People call me by my actual name sometimes! I've been known to go to a party and have hardly anybody quiver in terror the whole time, as long as I never acted annoyed about anything!"

... Giggle. She possibly shouldn't giggle at that, but it's kind of funny anyway.

"All right." Snuggle. "The idea of being adorable at you in public is kind of hilarious. People would look at me like I was crazy. I wouldn't be - I don't know, subverting your reputation in any way you cared about, right?"

"You would not. I don't mind if you want to be adorable at me in public, it sounds like fun."

"Okay. We'll see. I might not end up even going to any parties, anyway."

Snuggle. "Up to you."

She smiles warmly at him. ... It is mildly tempting to kiss him. Nnnnno let's not do that just yet, that sounds like something that would absolutely spiral out of her control in a heartbeat. Especially with their kissing record. One kiss, and it definitely spiraled out of her control in a heartbeat. She suspects there might be a theme.

"Thanks." Snuggle.

—well now he's thinking about kissing her.

Snuggle. Yes. That.

"... This is totally going to spiral out of our control at some point, isn't it," she murmurs, reaching out to touch his cheek.

...he smiles. "You mean the thing where we're lying here snuggling and wanting to kiss each other? Given what happened the first time we kissed, yeah, that sounds pretty likely to me."

"Yeah. That thing. And - yes. Me too." Snuggle. "Possibly we should be clever and have a conversation before inevitable spiraling. I think I could have a conversation without it spiraling, what about you?"

"Oh, probably."