( limelight ) overflow

[featherduster]

i preemptively know i'll need this

Comments

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

He thought it was...

[thinks about what to call it. what he himself feels, when he watches the feathers unfurl from Minuet's skin]

...wonderful. I don't mean that he didn't see the complications, the hurt. But still...

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Unable to meet Frost's eyes all of a sudden ]

... And, you?

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

On that point, he and I are in perfect agreement.

And for all his other flaws, I don't think that other me would have left that place without looking for a way to save him.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ There's embarrassment in his expression, but something warm and private, too ]

It wasn't his job to worry about that. But I agree.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[gently flicks Aloe's forehead]

It's no one's job. No one does that kind of thing unless they want to.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Rubs at the spot... ]

I know. Just-- it's a lot to put on anyone. I'm sure that's why he didn't say anything himself.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

I'm sure it was.

It's a little embarrassing, but do you want to see? Once we're done with the rest of these.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

Yeah, I do.

[ He holds up the slip of paper he'd indicated earlier. Frost's memory. ]

Actually, this felt similar, in a way.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[frowns at it a little. truly that could be anything]

What is it of?

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

The night you saved my life.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[oh]

Oh...I wasn't expecting that.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Smiles a little ]

Neither was I.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

Can't imagine it made for the most pleasant viewing.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

Not exactly. But...

I'm glad for anything that helps me understand you better.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

Well.

[looks at the pile. the pile that he watched Aloe write and then stole immediately to hoard away]

I get it. Maybe.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Also looks at it ]




Yes, I suppose you do.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[( '-')]

I'm just greedy, though.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

I can't claim I'm not. Picking it out of the bowl was an accident, but if there'd been some way of knowing? I'd have done it anyway.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

...there is, now.

I took some of the blank papers. If there's anything you really wanted to see, I'd show you.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

... I don't want to reopen old wounds...

[ "But" ]

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[squeezes his hand]

It's okay. I'm offering.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

After that performance.

When you altered my memory.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

You want to see what I was thinking?

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

No. I want to see what you were feeling.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[he starts to say something else, but it sticks in his throat

just scribbles a couple of lines on a blank slip and hands it over]