for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire

For many consecutive nights, Ishiah had made a habit of returning to the hut far later than his working hours demanded, trying his best to sneak into bed without arousing any suspicion. Alcohol had a tendency to linger on one's breath long after it had left the bloodstream, forcing Ishiah to cover up the scent as best he could with flowers, crushing lokelani petals and lightly dabbing them over his pulse point, temples, anywhere that could prove sufficiently distracting. The feeling of the night breeze was pleasantly cool against perspiration and dew alike, though the latter tickled, almost like feathers brushing against skin. The thought made Ishiah frown, always made Ishiah frown, though the familiarity of it tugged strongly enough that it was never much of a deterrent at all.

Especially not when one was practically stone drunk.

He'd had even more than usual that night, although strangely enough, the regular consumption of alcohol only seemed to help the peri's tolerance, not having yet pushed the envelope too far. It was enough that Ishiah forgot to stop by the garden and instead headed directly for the hut, barely straying at all for the path. How much of the situation had managed to slip from Ishiah's fingers only impressed on the peri when he instinctively turned on the light in the bedroom without first checking to see if Robin had already fallen asleep, or otherwise passed out from consumption of alcohol.

Flinching at the light, Ishiah squeezed his eyes shut, slowly blinking to adjust and feeling very much like a deer caught in the headlights. Worse yet, the sudden brightness tugged at his nausea as a hand flew out to grip the doorframe, smooth bamboo sticking to heated skin.

"Sorry," he immediately muttered.