ic contact;

[originallutece]

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[roseblooms]

In your defense, I suppose it IS a form of speaking, albeit in scent instead of in words.

[originallutece]

Kurama, we share a bed, and I mean that chastely: we sleep side by side. There's very little chance you're ever not going to smell him on me.

Or is it primarily sex you're fussed about?

[roseblooms]

Are you asking me if I can tell the difference between the smell of chastity versus the other alternative?

Is that really a question you WANT an answer to?

[originallutece]

I rather think you've answered it.

[Good grief.]

What precisely is it you're asking me to do, here?

[roseblooms]

I'm not sure I even know myself, really.

The night I was attacked, after he destroyed my room, I convinced him to stay with me. I remember I all but made a nest of his bed and just...huddled there, like a kit in a den.

I keep thinking of things I've grown accustomed to and realizing belatedly that this likely means I'm not allowed to have them anymore.

[originallutece]

For now.

[It isn't that she's unsympathetic to his plight, after all.]

You're a tactile person, Kurama. For now, yes, I think things will rather edge towards one extreme, but it won't last. You'll be allowed to share a bed with him again, or hold his hand, or whatever other physical expressions of platonic affection you two have shared in the past. You'll be allowed that once more, once it won't hurt you both.

[roseblooms]

And Keiko. I don't want any of this to hurt her, either.

...

If you were in her place, her situation — would you hate me?

[originallutece]

Keiko is a much kinder person than I am, Kurama. And Yusuke and she don't have the same relationship Robert and I do.

[So yes, she would hate him. She's loathe him, because the Luteces don't share well with others, not in the least. (And yet then again: would she hate someone her Robert had chosen? If he presented it well, if he took her hand and kissed her and said, look, look who I found for us . . . mm. Perhaps. Certainly it's something worth thinking about).]

But I don't think she'll hate you, no. She may be a little cold for a while, but it's as we said before: Yusuke isn't a prize. This is as much on his head as it is yours. If she's going to hate one of you, she'll hate both of you, and I don't think she will.

[roseblooms]

Regardless of whether that's true or not, Rosalind, you're my favorite precisely the way you are.

[originallutece]

Is that so? I'll have to tell Robert, he'll be immensely jealous. But who wouldn't be?

[roseblooms]

I think your Robert is getting a bit fed up with me, frankly. He'll never manage to pay off his tab at this rate.

[originallutece]

The competition is good for him. It keeps him sharp. Although if you don't waive his tab soon, I'm going to be quite cross, Kurama.

[roseblooms]

Oh, rest assured, he's been making a good faith effort. I've been finding quite a bit of use in his knack for getting around from place to place in a hurry.

[originallutece]

Are you making him play errand boy?

[roseblooms]

It's more that I'm having him make deposits for me.

Of seeds, specifically, in places around the city that are largely devoid of greenery.

[originallutece]

[Gardener isn't much of a step up, but she supposes it's for a good cause.]

Normal seeds? Or demonic plants?

[roseblooms]

Normal, for the most part. Generally roses, just because I'm most practiced with manipulating them in a hurry, but he's sowing a few other varieties for me as well.

[originallutece]

Ah. So it isn't simply an effort on beautifying our fair city, hm?

Roses are good, though. He still hasn't grown comfortable with Punnett; I'd be quite displeased if you were terrorizing him with your efforts.

[roseblooms]

I've been trying to convince him to wear a carnation in his lapel on a daily basis, but I suspect he's leery that I may have an ulterior motive in that.

[originallutece]

And do you?

[roseblooms]

I do.

My motive is that I suspect it would please you.

[originallutece]

This is going to end with the two of you ganging up on me, I think. Though at least it's in only the most charming of ways.

[roseblooms]

I don't know about that. I've always been more of a free agent than a team player.

It's more that I'm simply very invested in your happiness, in whatever form it might come.

[originallutece]

You know that holds true in reverse, I hope.

I worry about you. I am worried about you, here and now. And while I will leave you alone if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to keep you company, these next few days.