Later that day, Kyrie, Vivian and Neri all sat in the nursery, working on what they could while the children occupied themselves. It was getting pretty late though, and Vivian's eyes kept flitting to the younger inhabitants of the room every time they slowed because they were getting sleepy. Raine was doing a lot better now than she had been at the beginning of the day: her mother and Jiera had come in to spend some time with the children in the afternoon, and even though Vivian couldn't imagine that Lady Dandridge wasn't in some serious pain, she had seemed the same as usual to her daughter. She hadn't even babied her wounded arm in any obvious way! The time that Raine had spent with her mother had helped her feel more comfortable about the fact that they were both ok, and as a result she'd become less possessive of Vivian as the day dragged on.
Wondering if she should say something to the children about going to bed, she turned to Kyrie to get her input but got distracted when her eyes finally focused more on her friend. Kyrie was humming softly to herself as she worked the cloth in her lap, and a slight smile was lighting up her features. Kyrie's overall demeanor gave Vivian a little bit of pause: it wasn't that Kyrie was usually in a bad mood when she worked, but she wasn't usually this happy. Not only that, but in light of what had happened last night how could she have bounced back already?
Wanting an excuse to ask Kyrie about her mood without Neri hovering nearby and potentially inhibiting Kyrie's answers, Vivian made the decision on her own.
"Alright children, I see how your motions are getting sluggish and strained. I do believe it's time for bed."
Sounds of protest were made by the two older ones, and little Breida followed along just because that seemed to be the thing to do. Breida was the clearest evidence that they were all tired though: she could hardly keep her eyes open and spent a lot of the time sitting next to the other two with her eyes completely closed. Neri was in complete agreement that it was time for the children to go to bed, and she hefted Breida up into her arms and held out a hand for Markus. He just made a show of turning his nose up at his caretaker.
"Why keep staying up when tomorrow will come in a flash and you can get back to playing full of energy again?"
Markus didn't really have a good rebuttal for Neri's comment, and he made another little pouting face before eventually putting his hand in Neri's.
Both Kyrie and Vivian had gotten up at this point, and when Kyrie turned to Neri to ask if the woman needed help with the two children, Vivian's face turned down into a frown. She didn't want that! Vivian wouldn't be able to ask her about what had put her in such a good mood if the two of them were going to separate! Thankfully Neri politely declined, saying that she was quite used to putting the two to bed after all this time. As a result Kyrie turned to Vivian, who had decided to pick Raine up to try and expedite this process. The child drooped over Vivian's shoulder, and Kyrie quickly did some tidying up of the nursery before jogging after Vivian.
Soon they'd be heading to eat their own dinner, and the thought of seeing Isaac again after this afternoon put a bit more of a bounce in Kyrie's step. Vivian picked up on this as Kyrie bounded up behind her, and once they'd made it far enough away from Neri, she couldn't hold in her curiosity any longer.
"Alright, what's happened to you? You're acting pretty similarly to when you first got your necklace!"
At this inquiry a blush spread across Kyrie's cheeks, and she shyly glanced at Vivian before looking down at her own feet.
"I-Is it really that obvious?"
"Yes! Now tell me!"
Vivian had always been a little nosy, loving to hear about the gossip around the house; anything that was told to her was likely to be told elsewhere, unless it was a real secret. Kyrie was pretty sure that Vivian didn't share any moments of vulnerability with other people, but what happened to her today was nothing that warranted the secret tag. At least, it didn't need to be a secret from anyone but the lady and even then none of the slaves really believed that they had secrets she didn't know about.
"Well it's not really a big deal. It's just that Isaac came inside to see me today."
Kyrie's hand went up to where she knew the pendant to be under her clothes, and a smile lit up her face as she saw Isaac again in her mind. It had been so nice when he'd lifted her up to help her dust and she wondered how long he'd been standing at the door watching her before choosing to move forward. She really hadn't been paying enough attention, and the thought of him watching her crawl about the room just made her feel embarrassed. Yet, there was a slight bit of delight mixed in somewhere as well.
"Not a big deal?! Kyrie, the men never come into the house during the day unless the lady wants them to move things!"
The blush on Kyrie's cheeks deepened at that, and she tried to mumble something to humble the experience, but to be honest, she felt the same way. Dropping the attempt to make it less of a big deal, her free hand rested on her cheek as she let out a soft sigh.
"I was so happy to see him when he came up... Especially after... Well you know. His presence is immensely comforting to me. There was no doubt in my mind that he had work to do yet he had purposely separated himself from it just to come and see me. It was so sweet of him!"
Once again that pang of jealousy coursed through Vivian, but she was silent as she could feel something else beginning to bloom in that jealousy. If Kyrie had been so excited to see her lover, would Renard feel equally excited if she was to go out and see him? She'd caught glimpses of him before while he was working out in the garden, but she had never gone out to find him in the middle of his work. He'd found her before on the rare occasion when her work took her outside, but she'd never tried to go and see him. It was kind of nerve-wracking, actually, the thought of going out to see him while he worked.
Even though Vivian wasn't a shy person, interrupting his work felt somehow more intrusive than any of the things they'd done together. Yet... She so desperately wanted to get closer to him. She wanted to see more sides of him than what she'd initially thought he had, and if she really wanted to do that then she had to explore outside of her usual comfort zone. Tightening her grip a little on the practically sleeping Raine to adjust her a little, she spoke softly so that Kyrie would have to strain a little to hear her.
"Maybe I should find some time to go out and see Renard tomorrow."
For some reason, the thought of Vivian doing that cut through Kyrie's mood a little. It was almost as if Kyrie considered Renard's more real sides to be something that only she would be able to understand. After all, until now Kyrie was the only one who'd actually wanted to see past his facade: that had been a big factor in her getting closer to him in the first place. If Vivian had been perfectly happy with her relationship with Renard until now then trying to dig deeper might end up ruining their relationship. A part of her felt terrible for this gut reaction though, because even if there might be a bumpy road going forward, it would mean that they come out of it with a stronger relationship! Even if it was a bit later than it should've been in Kyrie's mind, she should still be encouraging Vivian wanting to get closer to her lover.
Mentally slapping herself for such negative thoughts, Kyrie bit her lip a little, not saying anything in response to Vivian's comment for fear of saying something that would give her away. If this was something that Vivian really wanted to do then who was she to stop her? Besides, even if the understanding that Kyrie and Renard had between each other couldn't be achieved, Vivian should still be able to make her own closer relationship with him, right?
Vivian had thankfully made her comment softly enough that it wasn't unreasonable for Kyrie not to have heard, but while Vivian may have thought that was the reason for Kyrie's lack of response, that certainly was not the case. Vivian didn't sense or see this slight drop in mood from her friend, and her next statement was spoken louder so that there was no doubt Kyrie would be able to hear her.
"Have you ever gone out to see Isaac while he was working?"
Whatever negative thoughts were bubbling in Kyrie's brain quickly got washed away by the embarrassment she felt from the question. It was an innocent enough question, there was no reason for her to get so flustered, but the only times she'd gone out to find Isaac in the stables had been when she had been overcome with lust. It was a shame those were the only times though... Even if the time they'd spent together had felt amazing, it didn't change the fact that Kyrie had mostly done it to escape Renard. She really had to go out and see him at other times now, especially after he'd actually braved the inside of the house to see her.
Kyrie's incredibly slow response caused Vivian to look over her shoulder, and when she saw the bright blush on Kyrie's cheeks she had to admit that she was rather surprised at first. With an expression like that there was no doubt in Vivian's mind that Kyrie was remembering a heated encounter. Surely she'd gone to see Isaac more than once? That's why it was so surprising for Vivian: out of all the times Kyrie had probably gone out to see him, the one that came to mind was a lewd one. Vivian's features curled their way into a smile at the opportunity that presented itself to her.
"Well, with that kind of expression you definitely have and it wasn't something to forget."
The blush on Kyrie's face only got worse, and she covered her features up with her hands as Vivian chuckled and set Raine down in her mother's sitting room, preparing to change the girl into night clothes and do the rest of the pre-sleep prep. The bedroom itself hadn't been fully cleaned out yet, plus Mae had decided that it was probably best to stay in the sitting room for a couple nights after such a harrowing experience in that room.
"I'm surprised, Kyrie, I wouldn't have taken you as the kind of person to actively seek out such intimacies in the middle of the day. Clearly Isaac has been very good for you."
Once again Vivian laughed, and Kyrie let out a soft groan of protest.
"Vivian, please!"
"Alright alright! You know I just can't help it with you though!"
For some reason that comment made Kyrie think of Renard. So often when the two of them were together Renard was relentless in his teasing; even though Kyrie already knew that Vivian shared that trait, she now found herself wondering how the two teasing personalities fit so well together. She supposed the dynamic would be a lot different from how it was when she was with Renard: she got flustered and tended to bow down, but Vivian probably fought the teasing and it was likely a friendly war between the two of them. Once again she idly wished that she could watch others in the throes of intimacy, and once again she was shocked by her own thoughts.
Trying to wipe the embarrassment away from her face, she instead focused on helping Vivian get Raine ready for bed. By the time the two of them had her tucked into one of the luxurious couches, Kyrie had finally gotten her face to no longer be blushing. Vivian was officially done teasing Kyrie for now, but she wasn't quite done with the subject. So while the two of them sat nearby to keep an eye on Raine until she fully fell asleep, Vivian started talking again, albeit softly so as to not disturb Raine.
"I'm going to do it. I'm going to go out into the garden and surprise him while he's working. Ideally I'll go out tomorrow, but if the stars just don't line up for that then I'll go when I can get myself some time. Maybe that will encourage him to come in and see me when I'm working every once in a while too. It'd be nice if it could become a regular thing."
Kyrie's heart wrenched with a mixture of worry and delight at these words, and she forcibly tried to push down her worry. It was inevitable that Vivian would be spending more time with Renard what with the fact that their relationship was open and advertised, and that was legitimately perfectly okay with Kyrie. It was just... … She didn't really know, actually. Perhaps Vivian doing this didn't sit right with her because Kyrie was positive that it wasn't going to go quite how Vivian planned? But maybe Kyrie didn't like it because it was starting to overlap too much with her own relationship with Renard?
No... No that couldn't be the case: if it was then Kyrie would have more of a problem with the two of them spending time together in general. What was it then? Just what was making her so uncomfortable with the idea that Vivian was going to go out into the garden to see Renard?
It was strange, really. Kyrie knew that she didn't love Renard, not like she loved Isaac, in any case. It would just be so much easier for the house as a whole if Kyrie and Renard just accepted that what happened during the time that the rest of the house had been gone was simply a one time thing. That way they could get on with their lives and still be happy and open with all the people involved. Yet, the idea of giving Renard up to Vivian completely, of having Vivian more fully understand him like Kyrie did... She just didn't like it.
Was she... Was she so worried then because it might signal the end of her own relationship with Renard? Did... Did she really value the time that she spent with Renard so much?
Knowing that Vivian was waiting for at least a little something from Kyrie, she swallowed whatever negative thoughts were flitting through her head and gave her friend a smile, hoping that it didn't look at all forced.
"You're so bold! I have to admit that I really haven't gone out to see Isaac that much... Maybe I should though with how good of a mood seeing him put me in... You'll have to tell me how it turns out."
Vivian beamed at her friend and gave Kyrie a brief hug.
"Thanks, Kyrie, you'll definitely be the first to know! You should go out and visit Isaac too though. I know that you're so overcome with shyness all the time but really, he would absolutely love to see you, even if it is just for a few minutes!"
Once again that blush rose to Kyrie's cheeks, and Vivian laughed as she pulled her friend in for a side hug this time. The two women gently rested their heads against the other then; one had her mood drastically improved by this discourse while the other was rather flustered by the encouragement to also be a bit bolder.
As embarrassing as it was, Kyrie did actually want to create more memories with Isaac where she went out to see him solely because of him. That way when she thought of a time when she sought Isaac out she wouldn't be constantly reminded of how guilty she felt for using one man to satiate the desire for another.
Bringing her hand up to touch her necklace again, Kyrie found a soft smile rising up to her face as she traced the shape. Even when she was fretting about Renard, thoughts of Isaac could still bring a smile to her features.
The two women's thoughts were in sync then: both of them resolved to spend more time with the one they loved in the days to come.