[for Henshaw] but if you try sometimes

[piqued]

He was here for a Completely Unrelated Reason, but he's forgotten it now.

It's not something he doesn't Understand, really. He's got a Sense of why there are pages upon pages of writing on this desk, why there are familiar Names scattered through them and where the Impulse to craft a more perfect world comes from, although he himself had never been able to take pen to page about it.

But he's got his own Stories. He's got a whole Universe in his mind where Isaac and Urania have lived Happily Ever After in their very own Castle in the stars, where Victor and Zoë have their own beautiful Children, where his Father and Mother are Very Much in Love.

That doesn't make this tale involving himself and Zoë any more Sensible. That's why he's here puzzling over the pages rather than Whatever he came here to do, barely paying attention to the door.

Comments

[rumourhasit]

"Oh-- my." Nelly stops straight in the door, eyes wide as she takes in the scene in front of her. Declán Chives - reading her fanfiction - about him. Nelly Henshaw, don't faint.

"I--I'm very sorry, did you need something?"

[piqued]

There's no need to move with any particular haste. His attention stays down on the pages he's working his way through, gloved fingers lifting the edge of one slightly in advance of moving it aside to read the next.

"...will you close the door, please, Miss."

Not quite a Question.

[rumourhasit]

"... Yes, sir." She ducks her head, turning to close the door as her heart pounds loudly in her chest. "Um- I swear, I didn't mean for you to--"

[piqued]

"Then what did you mean them for, Miss?"

That's got to be a Reasonable enough question. His tone even manages to stay perfectly level, bland, the dry Affect his family is known for in all circumstances.

The sharp uptick of his eyes to meet hers, however, might be less Reasonable and more Disconcerting.

[rumourhasit]

"For... my own... writing skill and... Please, sir, I'll do anything, just-- just forget about it." She vainly tries to reach for the papers in his hand, looking away from him.

[piqued]

"Forget, Miss?" Reaching just gets her wrist close enough for him to catch proper Hold of, just a little tight for being a Card who isn't one of his own staff. "You'll understand I find it difficult to forget something like this."

Something about Zoë and, well, not Victor, himself divorced entirely.

[rumourhasit]

"I-- I said I was sorry- it's your own fault for poking around my things!" she protests stubbornly, trying to pull away as he catches hold of her wrist. "I wasn't going to show it to anyone."

[piqued]

He's spent a lot of time in his life being Restrained by the wrist. He knows what Works and what Doesn't. His grip isn't going anywhere, no matter how she tugs.

"But if you write it down, Miss, there's always someone who'll see it." Likely Minnie, which wouldn't have been the end of the world, but still. "Wouldn't it be better to write about what's true?"

[rumourhasit]

"I-- I won't apologize for writing what I want." She says, lifting her chin. "You should be apologizing for invading my privacy."

[piqued]

"You've written libel concerning myself and a person I care for very dearly--" Says the man who clearly knows very little about Shipping beyond his own garbled definition. "--and you want me to apologize?"

[rumourhasit]

"Yes. I wasn't planning on publishing my writing or telling people about it. You're the one who's insulting me and my work."

[piqued]

There's a snort as he twists her closer by the wrist, chin lifting a touch. "The writing isn't the question. It's the content that I find insulting."

[rumourhasit]

“Find it insulting. I don’t care what you think,” she says defiantly. "You don't scare me."

[piqued]

Didn't she get taught to be scared of Spades? Silly girl, Nelly. The twist of her wrist is almost completely unconscious. "Get rid of them."

[rumourhasit]

She winces, but doesn't back away. "Make me, Declán Chives."

[piqued]

"You've no right to address me by my name." But he's losing his polish. His voice is dropping away from its Affect and into its rough, sharp, Kitcheny accent. "An' no way stopping me takin' them myself t' destroy them."

[rumourhasit]

"Oh, don't you dare," she warns, reaching out to shove him lightly. "Don't you even think about destroying them. They're not yours to dispose of."

[piqued]

The shove is barely noticed. "What, an' my name 's yours to disparage?"

[rumourhasit]

She splutters at that, almost laughs. "You can't prevent me from saying your name. You can't prevent me from speaking and writing as I'd like, no matter what you do."

[piqued]

"Speaking?" This tug to get her closer comes with the twist to hold her arm behind her back. "Have you been telling people abou' this rubbish?"

[rumourhasit]

"Are you-- deranged? I'd lose my job!" Her voice is slightly shriller now, though she doesn't quite cry out as he twists her arm.

[piqued]

"Then why d'you just leave it lyin' about like this, Miss?" Honestly.

[rumourhasit]

"Okay- okay, I understand, I'll be more-- let go of me!"

[piqued]

The snort is slight as he pulls her arm a little farther up along her back. She's much lovelier when she's flustered like this. "You'll be more what, Miss Henshaw?"

[rumourhasit]

She gasps in actual pain, then grits her teeth. "Discreet. I'll be more discreet, now, please?"