[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

[piqued]

Sex isn't actually removed from Violence in his life. It's not clear when he reaches out to catch her chin and jerk her face upward toward his whether it's to hurt her or bring her lips closer. "What good are you, then?"

[rumourhasit]

Her fingers close tight around his wrist, try to force him away. "I'm not, I know-- stop."

[piqued]

Having his hand jerked away doesn't change their Proximity. "You know you're not?"

[rumourhasit]

"I know I'm not good for anything," she repeats, her jaw set and her eyes blank. "Thank you for reminding me."

[piqued]

"...you are quite pretty when you're realistic." Whatever that means to her.

[rumourhasit]

"... but that hardly ever happens, so I'm of no use. I know." She wraps her arms around herself, glancing away.