For the kiss prompts, could you write Magine and Flint, number 7? Thank you!
Number 7 is a romantic kiss, and they both deserve more romance in their lives.
a kiss-shaped mouth
Flint squints at the case for a long moment and then says, "Ok, I want a dozen melon breads, a dozen curry breads, and four slices of that gateau there."
The bakery clerk gapes at her. "That's...a dozen each of the curry and melon breads?"
"And four slices of gateau, right."
"All of that? You're sure?"
Flint pauses, looks up at him, and then pats her gun meaningfully. "If you keep staring at me like that I'm just going to break into the case and take them."
"I. Yes, Miss, right away."
As the clerk is pulling everything together, there's a small commotion at the door of the bakery, and a woman in a long dress and a voluminous head scarf rushes in. She nearly collides with Flint, in fact, catching herself on the counter just in time with a stammered, "Nu nu nu I'm so sorry, I--Miss Flint!"
Startled, Flint turns to her, looks into the shade of the head scarf, and says, "Mag--"
Magine's hand is on her mouth almost immediately. "Please keep your voice down, I don't want them to figure out that I'm in here."
"--ine? Who? What's going on?" Flint reaches for her gun again, looking over her shoulder at the door. "Is it the cops?"
Magine shifts a little closer, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's photographers."
"Photog--you're being chased by the paparazzi?"
"Miss, your, uh, your order comes to fifteen hun...dred..." The bakery clerk trails off, servos whirring audibly as he stares at Magine. "Is that Mag--"
Flint takes the bag from him and shoves a mess of bills into his hand. "Here, that should be at least enough, anything extra you can keep as long as you shut your trap and let us use the back door."
The back door of the bakery lets out onto an alley lined with dumpsters, with a fence at one end and an exit onto a busy street at the other. As soon as they're alone, Magine sags against a wall and says, "Thank goodness."
Flint sets down her bag from the bakery and leans back against the opposite wall, eyebrows rising. "Since when did you start getting chased by paparazzi?"
Magine shifts awkwardly. "Nu nu well, I, you know, we've all been working with Stacey on the reconstruction efforts, and I've been doing a little bit of singing, and I was on a talk show to do fortunes, and, well, I've apparently gotten very popular. But the photographers only started to show up a couple of weeks ago, I did some, some modeling and now they won't leave me alone."
"Wow, look at you, you're a big time star." Flint grins at her for a second, but then the incredulous delight fades to, "That sucks, though, I'm sorry they're hassling you."
More awkward shifting and a shy duck of the head. "It's all right, I'll figure out some way to get them to stop. It's nice to see you, though, that's a good surprise--oh my goodness, I think I hear them coming, hide me!"
In the life of a pirate, and especially when you're the sister of a pirate recently voted "scoundrel of the year" by a reader poll in Kaizokutopia Weekly, "hide me" is almost as common a phrase as, "pleased to meet you," and Flint is already looking around for options. The fence at the end of the alley is too high to scale at speed. The dumpsters are far too dirty to duck behind. Signaling the boys to drop them a boarding line would get them away, but it would also attract more attention. She sizes up Magine's outfit, the view from of the mouth of the alleyway, the sounds coming from the street, and says, "Kiss me."
Magine's hands fly to the sides of her face. "Kiss you--I can't, I mean, I don't know--"
"They're coming, hurry up."
A moment later, a small cluster of photographers pause at the alley entrance, glance down, and turn away politely. Nothing unusual there, just a young couple having a private moment. Then a flash of pink catches their collective eye from across the street and they're off again.
Flint shifts back, and Magine says, "Oh, my," as a faint rosy glow spreads across her faceplate.
"Sorry, it was the best way to get your face out of view quickly--are you ok?"
"Well, I mean. I suppose I am, yes, but..." Magine ducks her head shyly. "Nobody's ever kissed me before."
Flint stares at her, shocked. "Wait, was that your first kiss?"
"Well, well yes. I mean, we normally don't kiss at all. Kikainoids, that is. We don't really have," with a vague gesture to her own face, "we haven't really got kiss-shaped mouths, you know. Not like...not like you."
"I...oh, wow, now I'm extra sorry, I didn't mean to swipe your first kiss like that."
"No, don't be sorry!" Magine's rushed tone makes her blink, especially as it continues, "I mean, you're, you're a pirate, you're supposed to steal things, so that sort of makes it fine, you know, and anyway I...I don't. If I'm going to kiss someone for the first time, I don't mind it being you." The rosy glow darkens just a bit. "I don't mind it being you at all."
Flint feels her own ears going warm, which she sort of hates, although not as much as she hates how silly and squeaky her voice sounds when she says, "Really? I mean. Good, I'm glad." A scramble for words, something to say, "How do...do Kikainoids do anything else that's like kissing?"
"Well, we sort of..." Magine reaches for her, pulls back, and then leans forward and bumps Flint's forehead with her own, very gently. "You know, like that." A pause, and then she bumps her warm faceplate against Flint's cheek. "Or that sometimes."
"That's...that's really nice, I like that." Flint stares up Magine, red-faced, and then hurriedly steps back and picks up her bag from the bakery. "I should call the ship, get all this put away--shit, is that those guys again?"
Magine freezes, looking sidelong at the mouth of the alleyway, where it does, in fact, sound like the paparazzi are returning. "Oh no, what am I going to do now?"
A snap decision, Flint is already signaling up to the ship and as it flies into view and shadows the sky she holds her hand out to Magine. "Come with me."
Magine takes her hand as the boarding line is dropping down and says, "This isn't how I expected the day to go at all."
"Me neither." Flint grins at her. "But I don't mind one bit."
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