falling ill

[keep_busy]

A few months after the business with the chalice, Annie (with a gold engagement stud in one earlobe, now receiving mail at Aldaras's apartment, and thoroughly comfortable with Being Necklaced, to the point where she's helping mold the thing towards more exacting standards for real-world-practical as well as theoretical compatibility) is in bed with some unidentified sort of head cold or flu. Aldaras doesn't have it so far, so she is snuggled under the covers while he makes her spicy soup to help clear her sinuses and because she's having a little trouble with non-liquids. He's worried, she's mostly just groggy. Zzzz.

Comments

[darkest_evening]

"See? That. There's - part of the disconnect, the misplaced comma. I thought, 'Of course you wouldn't care about it, you are being affected by a conspiracy necklace.' When, in fact, you're still you, with all of the intelligence and self-awareness and introspection that brings, so of course you would think that. And for missing that, I'm sorry."

[namesthesky]

"Now what?"

[darkest_evening]

"I. Don't know?"

[namesthesky]

"Well - with this - revised understanding of my relationship with my selves past and future - what do you want?"

[darkest_evening]

"I would still like for you to be un-necklaced if it's possible to manage it without distressing you."

[namesthesky]

"You may have to settle for it distressing me."

[darkest_evening]

"I. Would rather not. I like winning, remember. And that is not."

[namesthesky]

"I understand."

She picks up her pen and draws a line in her starfish.

[darkest_evening]

Prime tilts his head a little.

"... That felt very decisive and contextual for a drawing?"

[namesthesky]

"...Have I never explained my drawings to you?"

[darkest_evening]

"No?"

[namesthesky]

"Well, when I was a kid, I didn't really dare do notebooks like the other Bells. Even if I'd made a cipher - well, it could have gone badly if someone had noticed. So I made a code that looked like pictures. I switched to regular text, when I moved here, but sometimes I still do pictures."

[darkest_evening]

"That's - quite clever," praises Prime.

[namesthesky]

"Thanks. You didn't think it was weird when I identified the fish as my rant?"

[darkest_evening]

"There are multiple forms of ranting. Some of them are non verbal."

[namesthesky]

"I suppose."

She's leaning again.

[darkest_evening]

"You keep leaning towards me," observes Prime. "And then noticing and stopping."

[namesthesky]

"I -" She sits up. "Yeah. I do."

[darkest_evening]

"It's fine," he shrugs. "I'm not going to be offended by you leaning in my direction."

[namesthesky]

"The leaning is a precursor to attempting to snuggle you. If I don't interrupt it I will wind up in your lap."

[darkest_evening]

"If you would like to snuggle, we can."

[namesthesky]

If he intended to have Aya in his lap he has succeeded.

[darkest_evening]

So he did.

Snuggle.

[namesthesky]

Snuggle!

"I love you."

[darkest_evening]

He - doesn't actually know how to respond to that. Usually the proper thing to do in this sort of situation is say 'I love you, too' except, he actually doesn't. He likes her, certainly. But love? No, he's been in love before, this is not it. He's pretty sure that anything he could say would just sort of - make everything terrible. Because his conversation skills are sort of lacking, after a long time of misanthropy. 'I don't quietly hate you' is probably not the best response, either.

So, he doesn't say anything, and just snuggles her a little closer and kisses her hair.