epidemiology | you work so hard to push it all down

CHARACTERS: Koltira; Olivia

DATE: Evening, sometime post Oska-sim

WARNINGS: Naw

SUMMARY: Let's talk this out.

[ He'd found the mirror in his room. Worked in silver, with a clear, shimmering pane of glass set into its oval-shaped frame. The thing was lying on his pillow, as though waiting for him. He had picked it up, turning it over several times, thinking idly in several directions at once. Thinking of forgiveness, and isolation, and of the trees in the courtyard. Reaching for fragments of memories, good or ill, for the faces of the people he'd so recently hurt.

An image of Olivia bubbles to the surface. Her pained expression--not from the last time they spoke, but from earlier than that, the day in the clearing. He remembers the marks on her throat. He's about to turn the mirror face down and walk away, but the glass suddenly ripples. Koltira pauses, and then the mirror reflects a scene: Olivia, in Oska's library, hunched over a book.

He hesitates. It feels wrong, seeing this image. An intrusion, if not an outright violation. Yet he wants to see her, and the mirror has shown him the way.

Before Koltira departs for the library, he tucks the mirror beneath his pillow.

It's an oppressively quiet space. Full of soft breathing, quiet murmurs, the rustle of pages. The susurrus of paper and voices agitates him, prickles up and down his spine. He wants to turn and leave, but then he spots her, sitting exactly where the mirror showed her to be: bent low over a paperback, biting her lip, apparently enthralled.

Koltira comes up beside her. He clears his throat. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ she hadn't meant to do it, honest she didn't.

it had been an innocent thing, at first. a casual foray into the large library of oska. she'd heard there were books found from all over there, hundreds and hundreds of stories from different worlds, different cultures. the naturally curious part of her couldn't resist such a draw like that, and so after a round of her usual chores, she'd ventured in, quiet and excitable.

the book he'd seen her hovering over, it was a mistake. she'd just plucked one out from the shelves at random and thought nothing of the cover displaying a man and a woman holding each other and locked in an intense stare. of course, the more pages she turned, the more the cover began to make sense... and once she'd started, it had grown hard to put it down...

she's just in the middle of reading over a rather graphic kiss when suddenly she feels a presence behind her, announced by the clearing of a throat. ]

—Eep!

[ her sharp squeak is joined by the sound of fluttering pages, as she'd thrown the book from her hands in her surprise. it lands noisily on the ground several feet from her, her face a bright red beacon of guilt and shame. ]

[ Well, that wasn't the response he'd hoped for. Koltira takes a step back, frowning slightly. Drawn to movement, he glances at the book as it sails from Olivia's hands and onto the floor. The people on the cover illustration look under dressed. ]

Am I interrupting something?

[ hastily, olivia scrambles towards the book — it's more of an awkward forward lurch as she launches herself over it, tripping over herself and landing hard on her hands and knees in her attempt to cover it... too bad it's too late, he's already seen. ]

N-Nothing — nothing at all...! Why, um. Why do you ask?

[ she still tries clutches it close to her chest, now that she's straightened up and no longer got her butt sticking up in the air. ]

I mean, um. C-Can I help you?

[ Christ. Koltira wonders if he should just look away from the whole situation; he doesn't want to compound her embarrassment. He feels the purpose of this visit slipping away from him before it's even properly started. ]

I just--

[ His voice is halting, awkward. ]

Wanted to talk to you.

[ He clears his throat. ]

If that was all right.

[ olivia grows silent for a moment, surprise clear on her expression. ]

You... do?

[ it doesn't occur to her why he might ever want to. as far as olivia was concerned, their — friendship? &madsh; was over, wasn't it? she'd tried, and he'd resisted, and she'd failed, and he'd relented, and too many other things going on with him for her to have the right to keep pushing.

so she doesn't know why he would want to speak with her.

cautiously, her expression turns wary and imploring. ]

Have I done something wrong..?

[ He's a bit thrown by that reaction--not because he perceives any broken friendship between them (that would require a friendship to exist in the first place), but because she's behaving as though she hardly knows him at all. Well, perhaps that's so. He'll press on. ]

Our last meeting did not go as I had wanted, Olivia.

[ once upon a time she might have been naive enough to think she did.

he's made it quite clear that wasn't the case. ]

Didn't it.

[ she's not exactly sure what he means by that, and so she isn't sure how to take it. he seemed quite eager to be rid of her, last time — but then again, how is that different from any other meeting they've had?

what else could he have possibly wanted? ]

[ PRESSING ON. ]

You spoke to me of the others, of how I ought to do right by them. I don't disagree, but that wasn't the conversation I wanted to have.

[ He frowns, taking a step towards her. ]

Olivia, when I saw you again, I wanted to thank you.

[ ...

well that's got her attention, for sure.

she just kind of stares at him. dumbly. deathelf say what ]

You... what?

[ DOES HE NEED TO BEDAZZLE HIS CLOAK WITH THE WORDS OR SOMETHING ]

You came to me, even after everything I had done. You gave me your care, your time.

[ He takes another step towards her. ]

You trusted that I would not hurt you.

[ This, above all else, means everything to him--especially now, when he feels steeped in a climate of fear. ]

[ IT COULDN'T HURT

but hey, to her credit, she doesn't shrink away this time when he approaches. sure, her hands clutch the book a little tighter to her chest, but that's another matter altogether. she doesn't look afraid anymore, and she meets his eyes with a calm, level gaze. ]

Some people might call that foolish, [ she intones, casual and conversational. but her eyes bear into his unwavering right now. brow just lightly cocked. ]

Are any of those people here?

[ He pauses, knitting his eyebrows. The tips of his ears curl slightly. She's holding the book like a talisman, but there's distance in her eyes; chill in her tone. He's starting to wonder if he's made a mistake. ]

... no.

[ that's fair, koltira. she'd wondered the same thing about you once or twice before.

but now she smiles, a warm, easy one that he may be more familiar with. ]

Good. I didn't think so.

[ she holds her hand out towards him then, without any sign of hesitation. ]

Will you help me up?

[ That question was certainly a test, and this feels like another one, albeit more cheerfully delivered. He thinks back to the forest, how she had touched his wounds without reservation. How she had fallen asleep braced against him, as peaceful and trusting as though she'd known him forever.

He takes her hand, firmly, and lifts her up. ]

Any time, Olivia.

you work so hard to push it all down

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject