Rhydar playfully rolled his eyes and came over to Lily. Instead of staying off to the side, he stood in front of her, hands planted on the saddle on either side of her. "How about I just help you off?" he asked with an arched brow, a smirk working its way up his lips.
Lily blinked as Rhydar placed his hands on the saddle, her heart skipping a beat before settling as it reminded itself, without her prompting, that he would never plan on doing anything to her. Instead, she sort-of allowed her cheeks to heat up, preferring that over the fear as she looked up at him. "You said I needed to 'learn to do it on my own', didn't you?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. You have no evidence," he said with a flash of a smirk. "Am I helping you down or no?" he asked, growing slightly serious. He wouldn't grab her if she didn't want him to, and he hoped she knew that. However much he teased her or wanted to hold her, he would keep his distance until he was 110% sure she was okay with it.
“Physical, no. Mental, yes.” She said, tilting her head in reference to her mind. When he asked again, she thought about it for a second, before nodding. “If you don’t mind. The rain made the saddle kind of slippery, and I don’t have the strongest grip.”
"Don't mind at all," he said, then gently grabbed her waist and pulled her down, subtly holding her against him as he did so until her feet hit the ground. He lingered for a moment, then kissed her damp head and let go. "There you are. Safe and sound."
She let out a soft noise as he grabbed her, not really surprise, but just a reaction. Even once she was on the ground and he had let go, she stayed a bit closer than she normally did, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Thank you very much, dear."
He smiled down at her, eyes sparkling with some slightly hidden emotion, then looked over at the onslaught of rain pouring down from the heavens. "Since you love rain so much, you want to head over to the house and see if there's a spot we can stay until the rain stops?" he asked Lily, looking back down at her with a raised brow. "I'll get all the tack off of Nevarra while you do that."
"Of course I like the rain. It's like a thousand tiny kisses from the gods above." She said, looking up at the roof of the barn for a moment. It was something her mother used to say when Azzy complained about the rain. "But alright. Try not to take too long. Not that you can't if you want to, of course." She added hurriedly, looking back at him. "Just that-I'd be worried something happened. Like you fell or something, and if I didn't know, you could be laying there forever and it would be really bad-I'm…going to stop now."
He chuckled and came over to her to fold her into a loose hug, propping his chin on her head. "I'll be fine, Lily. I promise. But I appreciate the concern; makes me feel special." He smiled and moved his head to kiss her forehead, murmuring against her skin, "I'll come back to you."
"Well of course you should feel special. You are." She responded, her nose scrunching up as he kissed her forehead. Her cheeks were slightly pink, from embarrassment, but the hug seemed to make her happy. "Please do. Who would hug me if you didn't?"
He huffed a laugh and ducked his head to peck her lips. "Exactly." His eyes lit up at the sight of her blush, and he reached up to lightly brush his fingers over her cheeks, then dropped his hand and stepped back slightly. "I should hurry up so we can escape the rain in a more comfortable setting." He then winked with a smirk. "Romantic too, as a bonus."
She huffed a laugh, her blush deepening slightly as she stepped back. "I don't know if us both being soaking wet is entirely too romantic, but I can see where you're coming from." She commented, turning towards the barn doors. "I'll go check the old house then. See you soon, dear."
"See you soon, Lily Darling," he purred, then turned to Nevarra once Lily was gone from his sight. "Alright, let's get you cleaned up and free of all that tack," he breathed, reaching up to start undoing the bridle. He worked silently and diligently, humming to himself.
Lily slipped out into the rain, making no attempts to cover her head as she lingered in the same spot for a moment, letting the rain wash over her. Cold or not, it brought back good memories. And those were always appreciated, when so many of the others were bad. After a moment, she continued towards the old farm house, reaching it now even more soaking wet, and semi-grateful for the refuge from the water it offered. She peeked in the windows curiously, met with the expected sight of an old and abandoned home. Almost forlorn, and yet, the plants creeping in the floorboards and cracked windows almost gave it a sense of new life and purpose.
Rhydar stripped Nevarra of her tack, his movements directed by muscle memory alone as his thoughts were taken over by Lily. It wasn't anything in particular, just her in general. How sweet she was, how adorable her blush and scrunching nose was whenever he teased her, her love for flowers, how comfy she was, how much he lo–cared about her. He smiled to himself and finished with his work, dropping the tack off to the side and patting Nevarra on the side. "There you go girl," he murmured, then headed out of the barn. He ended up sprinting through the rain to get to the house with minimal rain getting on him.
Lily, without realizing it, began humming softly as she made her way slowly around the half-wrap around porch. The raindrops pitter pattered on the cover of the porch, almost seeming to keep time with her humming as she avoided weak wooden planks and holes in the floor. And there was a bench. Well, that was the only thing she really knew to call it. It looked like it functioned somewhat like the swings she’s seen on playgrounds before, but…it was a bench. And a comfy one too, luckily not too worn down by time and the weather. Curling up on one side of it, a leg on the ground to test out rocking it, she continued humming as she watched the rain, waiting for Rhydar.
Rhydar came over to the porch and shook the water droplets from his hair. Once he had run a hand through it to sorta half-ass fix it, he made his way around to try and find Lily. He heard some humming and followed it, trusting it to be his flower and not some creep lurking around, waiting to ambush poor princely thieves. He smiled to himself at the image, then the smile turned warm as he spotted Lily swinging back and forth on a swinging bench. He came up to her and sat next to her, hand reaching down and intertwining their fingers.
Lily paused her humming as Rhydar’s presence approached, pulling her eyes from the rain as he sat down. When his fingers interlaced with hers, she smiled, squeezing his hand in return. “Hey. You came back.” She said softly, tilting her head just slightly. It was somewhat of a joke, but there was an underlying relief.
"Yeah, I came back," he said with a smile, leaning in to kiss the side of her head. What he really wanted to do was pull her against him and wrap her up into his arms, but he refrained from doing that. He had to keep reminding himself, thanks to her progress, that she still had her limits.
“It’s kind of chilly out here, isn’t it?” She commented, her eyes closing as she scrunched up her face happily. Still curled up, she shifted just a bit closer to him, drawing on his warmth but not quite sure how close either of them was okay with the other being.
He let go of her one hand to grasp the other, his arm slightly curled around her but not quite as he pulled her against one side of his chest. "Yeah, it is," he agreed, dropping his head down to rest it on the top of hers, breathing in her flowery scent.
She let out a small noise of surprise as he pulled her closer, but almost immediately tucked herself against him. She probably wouldn’t have made the first move herself, but she was glad he had, because she really was cold. “You said I was comfy, but you’re pretty comfy too.”
"Hmm, am I now?" he hummed, looking down at her. He couldn't help but smile. Only a little bit ago, he would've never dared dream of cuddling with Lily. And now here they were, using each other for warmth without complaint on either side. It helped that Lily was just so damn adorable, no matter the time of day—except when she was upset, then that wasn't adorable.
“Yeah, you are. Warm and comfy.” She tilted her head back, smiling up at him. Her wet hair had fallen slightly into her face, but she didn’t seem to notice, perfectly happy to cuddle with him and listen to the rain.
His free hand moved up to brush back her damp hair, and he lowered his head to teasingly/questioningly brush his lips against hers with a smile. "Glad to know," he murmured against her lips. The hand holding hers curled around her a little more, hugging her close while not being restricting or demanding.