agleam | pc catchall for lup.

[he gives her an apologetic little wince.]

It wasn't even because of, um... I mean, I just heard the footsteps and assumed.

[awkward. anyways, he continues after a small uncomfortable pause.]

Just, you know, reading. I've kind of been waiting for a place like this to open up.

[she moves over to sit down next to him, if he'll allow it.]

Don't worry about it, this is the better version. [she tells him, as far as her looks go. and then:] Yeah? You a big fan of reading?

[there's a moment where he decides whether to ask or not, and while he decides to let it go, he does look curious as she says that.

after a moment, though, he nods.]

Yeah! It's always worth learning new things, right? Especially when we're in a place that might have books that don't even exist in my world. I've gotta read as many as I can while I'm here, in that case.

[nerd]

Nerd!

[but she says it affectionately.]

Find anything interesting yet? [he doesn't ask, so she doesn't tell, but it's not like she'd tell him to go away if he did.]

Wow! How dare you.

[that was preceded with a gasp, but it's clear from the tone of both that and his words that he isn't actually offended.]

Yeah, it's interesting. Not really what I was looking for, but... interesting.

[she laughs a little.]

What were you looking for?

Oh, just - information about something back home.

[...]

Are you doing alright, though? You mentioned earlier that this is, um, the better version... Hopefully this isn't bringing up any bad memories for you.

[well, she wants to come back to that, but she'll answer his question first.]

... I'm doing better than I was this morning. [she says, finally, leaning against a bookshelf.] It reminds me of the station, and I wasn't in a good headspace so much, uh. There.

[or here but like whatever who is right]

[he nods, slowly.]

...Must've freaked you out when things changed. [the ears lower slightly, sympathetically.] So - this is more like what you looked like, back there? I had no idea it was different.

This is more uh, what I look like sometimes at home.

The worse one is the lava one. This one is okay, I don't... I mean, I don't enjoy being a lich, but it's better than being injected with sin juice. That one... that one fucks me up.

[he only has a vague idea of what a lich is, so he's about to ask, but - he remembers how uncomfortable she seemed after mentioning she was undead back during the trial and falters instead.]

Lava...? Jeez! Was that painful? It had to have been... I'm really sorry.

[she gives him a little smile.]

Sometimes! But it's... behind me now. This is only a week. It'll be okay. [...] You're very sweet.

I think it's pretty normal to be worried when one of your friends says she used to be made of lava!

[after a second:]

Also, do I want to know what sin juice is...?

I mean, no! Probably not. But it was the stuff the place ran on, and the UWU had a bunch of it that we got infected with.

[a pause, and she brings a hand up to rub at the base of her neck.]

[making a face! his ears droop a little before they go back to normal.]

Jeez... I'm really glad you got away from that thing. Do you want to talk about something else, though?

[he noticed that motion, and he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable.]

Oh, sure. Whatever.

[a shrug.] ... I feel like sometimes the more I talk about it, the less I fear it. Like You-Know-Who but way more fucked up and way more inclusive.

[he does not know who]

...Uh, sorry, I know who now?

[stop]

But either way, if you want to talk about it more, we totally can! I just didn't want to - you know, bring up something that you don't want to think about.

Nothing. My references are lost on the ye oldes.

[anyway.] There's a lot of things I don't want to think about, but I'm not going to get mad if they come up. I'd have nothing to talk about ever.

Ye olde...

[squints, but then:]

...Wait, but doesn't that mean that everything you talk about, you don't want to think about?

Not everything. Don't be too literal. [she's amused.]

Just making sure! I was determining how concerned I should be on a scale of one to ten.

Sheesh. Do I really come off as that much of a disaster?

Oh, no, I'd put you at a three at most.

[teasing]

Hah! Out of what, ten? Or five.

—Oh, no, ten! Definitely out of ten. So, like, one out of five.

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evocationary - 2022-06-22 20:45 (UTC) - Expand

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agleam - 2022-06-22 20:46 (UTC) - Expand