[ His smile relaxes her, softens the blow, and she hesitates before she nods her head. Gilgamesh is handsome, a little like sunlight sometimes - beautiful to look at but something that leaves you red and raw if you stare or get too close, the after-effects holding on to your skin for weeks after.
He is beautiful, but being around him burns.
It's hard to admit that, maybe, there was something of herself in the way that he spoke, the way that he praised friendship. It might be true that his legend was a start, that maybe his friendship was one of the first, and that is something unique, something amazing, and she can feel how it inspires him. She knows that she feels something similar and she shifts, moving forward, adjusting their hands ever so slightly - her fingers slide between his, slowly, the top of his palm touching against Gilgamesh's, and her thumb brushing over his skin.
It's gentle, soft, careful, and she doesn't want to push. She knows that they have things that they're not going to talk about - the dead weight around her neck, the unapologised words from the training room, his relationship with Dorian, his anger, all of it - but she understands what he's saying. The things that he says, wants, it curls around her and settles because it's like a reflection of her own desires. To have friendship, someone you love, so passionately and powerfully that you would end it all to be at their side to protect them... It's not unfamiliar to her.
Once, she was prepared to walk into a forest filled with Dark Wizards that would torture, maim and kill her, just so Harry wouldn't be alone as he died. She thinks she can understand and, when she speaks, her voice is careful, trying to choose her words properly instead of blurting them out and seeming to be an idiot, a child instead of the woman she knows herself to be. ]
People prize intelligence, you know, and reading, learning. I do, too, I can't really deny that. But friendship is one of the most important things in the entire world. Having friends, having people to love and care about, makes you - anyone - far stronger than they would be if they were alone. There is something really beautiful about it, knowing that there'll be someone there to help you or take care of you whenever you need it, that will love you even in the darkest of times.
[ And then her memory flicks to Dorian and she pauses. She loves him, even knowing his soul, knowing he swings between loving her and wanting to leave her, his own confusion. It's what friendship means to her, tied in with her own natural dedication and stubbornness. ]
I'm glad you told me. And I'm glad you invited me for tea.
[ A breath, a squeeze of her fingers around his, gentle. ]
no subject
He is beautiful, but being around him burns.
It's hard to admit that, maybe, there was something of herself in the way that he spoke, the way that he praised friendship. It might be true that his legend was a start, that maybe his friendship was one of the first, and that is something unique, something amazing, and she can feel how it inspires him. She knows that she feels something similar and she shifts, moving forward, adjusting their hands ever so slightly - her fingers slide between his, slowly, the top of his palm touching against Gilgamesh's, and her thumb brushing over his skin.
It's gentle, soft, careful, and she doesn't want to push. She knows that they have things that they're not going to talk about - the dead weight around her neck, the unapologised words from the training room, his relationship with Dorian, his anger, all of it - but she understands what he's saying. The things that he says, wants, it curls around her and settles because it's like a reflection of her own desires. To have friendship, someone you love, so passionately and powerfully that you would end it all to be at their side to protect them... It's not unfamiliar to her.
Once, she was prepared to walk into a forest filled with Dark Wizards that would torture, maim and kill her, just so Harry wouldn't be alone as he died. She thinks she can understand and, when she speaks, her voice is careful, trying to choose her words properly instead of blurting them out and seeming to be an idiot, a child instead of the woman she knows herself to be. ]
People prize intelligence, you know, and reading, learning. I do, too, I can't really deny that. But friendship is one of the most important things in the entire world. Having friends, having people to love and care about, makes you - anyone - far stronger than they would be if they were alone. There is something really beautiful about it, knowing that there'll be someone there to help you or take care of you whenever you need it, that will love you even in the darkest of times.
[ And then her memory flicks to Dorian and she pauses. She loves him, even knowing his soul, knowing he swings between loving her and wanting to leave her, his own confusion. It's what friendship means to her, tied in with her own natural dedication and stubbornness. ]
I'm glad you told me. And I'm glad you invited me for tea.
[ A breath, a squeeze of her fingers around his, gentle. ]
It's something very beautiful.