On sleeping arrangements on The Queen Trahere

[consultmybooks]

On the one hand, yes, it's nice to get a cabin with a proper writing desk at the least. Once the train starts filling up a bit, I shudder to think how problematic it's going to be to have to navigate the lounge car.

On the other? You are really much too amused at the fact that our current arrangements require Helios and I to share a bed. And whatever you're thinking is going to happen most certainly isn't, I assure you.

I can't wait until we can get off this ridiculous thing.

Comments

[folklorist]

Wh-what is she thinking?! P-probably the same thing as my own. [ SIIIIGH. He is so awkward right now. ]

I, ah, h-hope we get off the train soon as well.

[consultmybooks]

More than likely. So at the least, I don't have to spell it out. [Pardon him if he sounds a bit short, Helios. It's just...Giles does not deal with awkwardness very well.]

...it, um, i-it was probably just a hallucination, but...have you seen the sorts of places we're passing by out the window?

[shadedsunlight]

[......gigglefit.]

[consultmybooks]

[...sigh.]

I've never understood how everyone finds matters like this quite so funny. I-It's just, um, it's just a cabin. [With one bed.] Rather a nice one, at that.

[shadedsunlight]

I'm sure it is. Nice and cozy I bet.

[consultmybooks]

[Haven't you missed making Giles blush, Ginia?] N-N-Not so cozy, actually. Might have been, if we'd gotten stuck in one of the other cabins, but, um, we, we certainly have room.

...it's about the size of our room, back at the house, but, um, w-what else would you expect, from a train?

[shadedsunlight]

It sounds quite nice. I've always liked trains, something nice and romantic about them. [Smirk.]

You two have fun.

[consultmybooks]

With a, um, minimum of motion sickness in the bargain. B-Better than planes, at least. [Yeah, he's babbling, just a bit, if only to avoid the big issue currently looming.]

...we'll, um, certainly do our best. When we aren't hallucinating, of course.

[shadedsunlight]

Hallucinating?

[consultmybooks]

Hallucinating. [He nods, looking...well, miserable.]

Last Halloween all over again, m-more or less. Um, be glad you weren't around for that year.

[Unconsciously, Giles scratches at one arm - the one that always seems to pick up the scars, the one bearing the Mark.]

[shadedsunlight]

I'm sorry.

[She makes a tiny 'hm.' It wasn't as if last year was any better.

Habitually, she reaches out to touch his arm, what she always does when she's trying to comfort him.]

[consultmybooks]

[It's a mark of trust that he lets her, and the scratching stops - at least for the right one. The fact that she never did ask about the Mark of Eyghon helps somewhat...]

S-So am I.

At least it, um, w-won't be as bad as last year. Or, it, um, it shouldn't be. Hallucinations and masks bring out t-two, um, v-very different sides of me.

[shadedsunlight]

You two have to stay safe, okay? Don't... [she laughs quietly.] No, I suppose asking you two not to get hurt is futile, but... you two need to take care of each other.

[consultmybooks]

W-We will. We're, um...halfway decent at that, at least. Or, um, Helios is. I...tend to be the one to ruin things, actually.

[He covers her hand almost tentatively with his.] Right now, I...well, I actually feel rather like I did, after, um, a-after he died.

[shadedsunlight]

I wouldn't say ruin as much as the powers that be like to mess with you. And by the powers that be, I mean your mundane. [A glare past the fourth wall.

Her smile fades slightly and she raises herself up to kiss his cheek.] You are seeing him again in a place that isn't Luceti. ["And you aren't dead."]

[consultmybooks]

[And he's not dead. Won't be for a very long while - his mun is cruel, but not heartless, she says in the face of that glare.]

Th-That, um, that isn't what I meant. [But he smiles faintly at the implications.] I mean, it feels as though I'm just...waiting for time to go faster.

[shadedsunlight]

Until you two can go? [Back to Luceti?]

[consultmybooks]

Until, um, I can go. Helios is in that utterly fascinating state where he can more or less be wherever he pleases.

...but I should, um, be able to return. S-Soon.

[shadedsunlight]

Grune and Helios and Buffy and everyone else will be happy to see you. You've been missed.

[consultmybooks]

[A beat. Then, in a tone of mingled amusement and puzzlement:]

Will, um, w-will you be happy to see me as well?

brand new voice. apologies in advance for any mistakes.

[younoticedthat]

Sharing a bed isn't all bad. Just don't let the other guy hog the covers and you'll be fine.

O_O I thought you'd all died out!

[consultmybooks]

[...

...

...Giles will never, ever, ever get used to this. Even meeting Jenny on the Trahere hasn't made this any easier.

Give him a second to get his brain in gear. Or twenty. Or...maybe sixty. At which point Giles hastily takes off his glasses to clean them.] Um, w-well, I was, um, planning to avoid that particular conflict entirely. Helios, um, needs them more than I would.

pfft, is it a trend? apparently I want to join in without even knowing. ;)

[younoticedthat]

[Jenny can wait. She knows too much not to. Maybe Giles does too.]

That's very generous of you. Except your mun will probably use the cold as an excuse to get you cuddling. They can be tricky like that.

Well, there was only one on the test drive meme. But compared to one thread in five years, yeah ^-^.

[consultmybooks]

[Oh, Giles knows. The days where he didn't are very long gone, by now.

And he looks respectably panicked at Jenny's suggestion, if only because it's exactly what he and Helios are both afraid of happening.]

I-I'm, um, I'm quite certain they'll make an attempt.

Even so, it, i-it wouldn't work. We, um, aren't that sort of people.

[Which is to say, Helios is afraid of being touched and Giles knows too well to push that far.]

SLIDES UP TO THIS SUPER LATE.

[slay]

And on the list of things I definitely never wanted to think about, you sharing a bed with some guy named Helios? Ranks pretty close to the top.