originallutece | (no subject)

It would. It...would certainly help with that.

[And yet still he hesitates, long enough that it may start to seem like he isn't going to bite at all.

But then, at length, he glances up and ventures softly: ]

...Rosalind.

That wasn't so hard, was it?

[That might sound a little abrupt or glib if she'd said it cheerfully, but her voice is quiet, and so all it comes out as is pleased.

Her name sounds good in his warm tones. If nothing else, she's glad to have gotten to hear it.]

Christopher.

[She may as well return the favor.]

. . . you know, I talked to Pro-- to Ardyn about those very fears you mentioned before. That difference between us. I, however, worried just the opposite: that I might put you in a position where you felt pressured to spend time with me, and that you'd rather be spending it with someone else. And that, ah . . . it might be inappropriate to have a friendship with you at all.

[A beat, and then she smiles faintly.]

In so many words, he told me to stop worrying so much and enjoy this for what it is.

You spoke to Professor Izunia about me?

[Well, that gets him to look surprised, to say the least.]

...For what it's worth, I can honestly say I've never felt pressured to...well, to do any of what you're describing, really. I know you have too much integrity to cheapen the value of someone's academic accomplishments with that sort of external pressure.

[She hums softly in agreement. Of course she'd never do such a thing, but at the same time, it would be terribly easy to accidentally fall into such a trap-- hence why she keeps asking him.]

I'm glad.

[This isn't the last time they're going to have this conversation, she's certain. But for the moment, it's best if they let it be-- and in the meantime, perhaps she can try and ease things between them another way.]

. . . you texted me with a game. Would you mind if I engaged you in another?

Oh.

[Oh. Well, that's a segue, all right, and not at all an unpleasant one, either.]

I wouldn't mind. What sort of game?

Tell me something about yourself. Inane or serious, I don't care what, but something I don't yet know. And in return, I'll do the same. A fact for a fact, does that sound fair?

Ah.

[Well, that's easy enough. He ponders a moment, trying to decide on something worth telling. Inane or serious, she'd said, but his impulse is to go for a little of both.]

I...my birthday, it's December 29th.

[That's certainly a little of both.]

[It's not compulsory, but still Rosalind casts her mind about for something vaguely related to that.]

I broke my arm on my thirteenth birthday.

You broke your arm?

[!!]

How?

I was hiding. My mother and I had gotten into another argument, and rather than stay at my family party, I ran off to sulk. I usually spent my free time reading in hiding anyway, so I grabbed a book and climbed my usual tree.

It had been raining the night before. I got fairly high up, slipped on a wet branch, and had to endure my mother being smugly self-righteous for the next six weeks.

What a shame you didn't have someone to catch you.

[It's an odd thing to say, maybe, and yet he doesn't precisely regret it, either — and in fact finds himself leaning just a little bit forward, gravitating toward her.]

Not that it likely would've helped much, but even so.

[Oh, that's a lovely thought, isn't it?]

Well. I'll be certain to keep you around the next time I climb a tree, hm?

Your turn.

Likely we'd both end up with broken bones, if you were counting on me for that.

I...oh. Ah, if I'd been born a girl, my mother would've given me a Japanese name instead of an English one. She thought it would've been harder on a girl to be an obvious foreigner, moreso than a boy.

I imagine she was likely right. Did she pick out a specific name?

"Hana", I think, was one of the top contenders. Written with the characters for "one" and "love".

[Oh. Oh, that's sweet, and Rosalind leans forward, genuinely interested.]

How do you write your name? What-- what characters are used, I mean.

Ah — the ones for "eternal", "clever", and "revived". It's not easy to write a Western name in kanji, but Mother did pick them out even so.

You should show me soon.

[But not right now. She's a bit too comfortable to get up and grab a notepad.]

That's two I owe you, now, isn't it? Let's see . . . I once promised a friend of mine I'd get a tattoo, though thank god I never went through with it. And . . .

Ah. And I can sing.

So you're saying you broke your promise?

[He'll touch that second one in a minute.]

I didn't break it.

[That's just a touch indignant for the way he's looking at her.]

We never ended up going out and getting drunk. I suppose it's still in the air, it's not as if we don't still spend time together.

[Sordid stories from the professor office.]

Oh. Was this with, um.

[He hesitates, grasping mentally for the name he wants.]

...Victoria?

Er.

[For a moment she hesitates, but, well, friends tell each other about work, don't they?]

Ardyn and Jack, actually.

[Professors Izunia and Dawson, in other words.]

Although that would be perfectly in-line for Victoria, frankly, so well done.

What! Which of them wanted you to get the — oh, wait, no, it was Professor Dawes, wasn't it.

Of course it was.

[She wrinkles her nose.]

Back when we were all shrunk to six inches. A spider attacked, he grabbed me and we dove into a crack in the sidewalk. While we were waiting for the spider to leave us be, we started talking, and it ended in him . . .

[She hesitates again.]

Rather daring me to get one, with the understanding that if I didn't, I'd be too scared to do it. I'm a bit too competitive for my own good, so before I knew it I'd agreed.

Oh, I see. He played you like a kazoo, then.

[FAWKES.]