RP logs: Winter Knight!Thomas (not that she knows)
It had been a few days since Thomas had accepted his new "job". If one could call it that. Station? Position in life? Whatever. He was still avoiding Harry especially because Mab had mentioned him. Not to mention Thomas wasn't sure if his brother would hit him upside the head on sight or not. If not worse.
Hell, he was making damn certain to avoid Maggie and Elaine as well for the very same reason. Which was getting awkward since he knew they'd start wondering soon enough what he was up to. Because of course he was only up to things when he went to great lengths not to be in the same area as someone. Of course.
The other reason he hadn't been seen much of was quite simple. He'd been practicing. He'd even taken a "break" from the salon -- the girls could handle things without him for a few days anyway -- so that he could go out of town a bit and work on figuring out this whole new power thing. Some part of him wished he could go to Harry with this. It would probably be easier. But then, it wasn't as difficult as he might have thought, either. No, most of it just seemed to revolve around him being very clear in his own mind one what he wanted to do. The rest of it flowed from there.
Besides, he figured it wouldn't be terribly long before Mab gave him an opportunity to really see what he could do. But until then, he had plans of his own.
Getting Justine.
Which was easier said than done, because he couldn't just waltz into the Raith Chateau and whisk her away.
Well, he could but...he was sort of genetically incapable of doing something that blatant. No, the best way to do it would be to manipulate Lara into simply giving her to him. That would take time to work on.
But until then, well, he could still visit, couldn't he?
--
There was... something about Thomas. Something new. The way his body positioned itself. Something. Justine couldn't quite put a finger on it, but maybe that was because initially she had duties to complete when he showed up, and she had to pretend, and that meant she couldn't keep her eyes on him every instant, and that meant she couldn't fully figure it out. And that meant she was curious.
Was it... because of what had happened last time? She willed her fingers away from curling, nails digging into her palms, at the thought of what had occurred - and then ended. She kept her features smooth. Slightly loopy, adoring of her mistress. All of that.
Until they were back into their room and she just leaned against the door as soon as it closed, suddenly tired by the effort. But her eyes were fixed on Thomas. Hungry. Some of his almost arrogant self-assurance seemed back. Maybe. Something.
But her first words were just, "welcome home."
--
Thomas' smile for Justine was absolutely radiant. "Thank you."
He wasn't quite reckless enough to just pull her to him. But he knew he'd have to test it somehow. So he could be forgiven for closing what remained of the distance between them and reaching out to touch her cheek.
Almost immediately, he hissed and pulled his hand away. But contrary to before, there was no despair in his gaze, just annoyance.
"Okay," he muttered, looking down at his fingertips, "it's not unconscious." And yes he probably isn't making a huge amount of sense to Justine. But he'll try to explain. In a minute.
--
Justine's eyes widened at the way he just reached and touched her, and for a moment just stayed pressed back to the door, not knowing ... why. What was happening. What she should do.
"Thomas... I don't want... Don't get hurt. I don't know what's going on, but--" She blinked as realization of something dawned on her.
"You know what happened last time. Or at least why. And there's more. Is that so?" She dared not reach for him right now, if he would answer her motion and get burned again, but, "was that a bad one?" A bad burn. Her eyes were not straying much from his face, from his eyes, but she did spare a glance in the direction of his hand.
--
He shook his head, rubbing his thumb against his fingertips. "No, it wasn't bad." He hadn't touched her for long, just enough to verify...
Then he caught her gaze, "but yes, you're right, I do know what happened." Thomas smiled ruefully, "now I just have to figure out how to replicate it." And that was the kicker.
Of course, some of the other things he'd tried had been a simple effort of will and concentration. It seemed to make sense that this would be similar. So he tried again, closing his eyes and believing the protection that surrounded her to be dampened. Once he thought he had it, he reached out to her again without opening his eyes.
He didn't burn this time. But it was an effort to hold onto and after only a moment, he pulled his hand back and looked at her. "I'm still getting the hang of it." But he looked pleased, fiercely pleased.
--
Justine had obviously not known Thomas when he first came into his own... 'normal' powers. She had not seen him before experimenting like this, coming into possession, into control of something new.
It was actually a little frightening, because it meant something had changed. Something had changed after all the time he couldn't touch her and suffered, it had changed after last time when he'd been confused and hurt, and she did not understand, at all, what it meant.
But she did know, beyond all doubt, that he'd not do anything against her. That she could trust him. Her eyes narrowed a little, after his fingers had left her cheek and the slight tingle there was fading, then she reached and took him by the sleeve and pulled him in the direction of the couch. "If that's so, let you at least get the hang of it where you're comfortable, hmm?"
If there was fear, it was, as so often, for him. That something was happening that he wasn't in control of, not completely. And anything like that could... turn on him.
And he already had one demon eating at him.
--
Thomas allowed her to pull him to the couch, settling easily down beside her. She was being awfully calm about this.
But she trusted him. He knew that. Even after all this time, it was odd for him to have someone trust him this much. Implicitly.
He smiled at her, "it'll probably take longer than one visit." But that was okay, it wasn't like he needed an excuse to see her more often. The only excuse was to make sure Lara or one of the others didn't start paying more attention to just what he did all the time with Justine.
He didn't even want to think about what might happen if they found out he could bypass the love protection on someone. Hmm..."someone". Would this work on anyone other than Justine? Was it his own desperate desire to touch her that enabled him to get this far with her? Did he dare test it out with anyone else? Did he need to?
No. He didn't need to. But it was intriguing.
--
She wasn't feeling calm, not really. Somewhere inside, she was abuzz, worrying. That something was happening that she didn't understand (not a rare thing) and possibly he didn't (a lot more unusual). That whatever it was that was happening, even if he could make it happen again, it would somehow go away again, for good, and...
She tucked her feet under her on the couch, looking at him - with a smile, because, "more visits? As long as you don't get burned," or at least, by the way he was going, burned MUCH, "that doesn't sound bad." Her voice was softer then. "Are you sure it's -- are you sure you're all right?" Chin slightly up, she added, "do I need to do anything?"
All the questions? Maybe one could tell Justine was a little confused. Or maybe something more was 'activating' along with his ability to touch her and was making her thoughts a bit mixed up.
"Will it stay, this time?" She didn't want him to recover it only so it would vanish again...
--
"It should." You know, assuming Mab didn't get a bee in her bonnet about something. But Justine didn't need to know that. "Before was a...taste. It wasn't something I was doing. This time it's me." He just hadn't got it controlled yet.
"I don't think you need to do anything except...be here." He couldn't do it without her, after all. "We'll take it slow." Idly, he scratched at the spot on his chest where he'd been branded, thinking. Maybe he was visualizing it all wrong and there was an easier way to do it.
Too bad there wasn't an easier way to test it.
--
'Be there' implied possibly 'hush and let me concentrate', so she nodded and leaned down her face slightly, a small smile on her lips. If he could touch her again...
But also, the smile was at - confidence and determination combination. It had been a while since she'd seen him like that. Her eyes flickered, uncomprehending, at the motion against his chest, why yes, she was following all his motions.
A taste. That usually means...
Something to buy, and pay for. Her throat clenched suddenly. She'd probably ask about what it had cost him, in a little bit. For the now, she tried to disbelieve her own conclusion. There was so much she didn't understand, it was possible this was among those occasions.
--
Once more, Thomas closed his eyes, this time visualizing the power differently. Imagining it working with his own power as one of the White Court, "freezing" the protection around Justine and bypassing it. It felt easier, not quite so much of a mental effort.
Once more, he touched her, his skin cool against hers. Smiling, Thomas opened his eyes, still touching her. No burning. He wouldn't bet he could manage this while say, kissing her. Or other things, but for now? This was enough. He'd get better.
And there was still an awful lot one could do with a simple touch.
--
Justine's reaction to his cool fingers was almost automatic. "Are you Hungry?" But the momentum with which she started got lost halfway through. It just felt ... it felt different. Maybe it was the way his eyes looked, not the way when--
Of course, his smile was making it hard for her to think very clearly. Her cheeks tightened with a return smile, and, emboldened by something in his expression, she leaned, very lightly, against his hand. It was tempting to just close her eyes against the sensation, but then she wouldn't be able to see his face, his eyes.
Instead, she just stood very still, inhaling deeply.
His smell hadn't ... changed that much. Had it?
--
He was Hungry, a little. He hadn't been to the salon in a few days, after all, and he certainly hadn't had anyone in his bed. But he'd been well fed before that. As she leaned into his touch, Thomas caressed her cheek gently, watching her reactions.
It was entirely possible he was Feeding. Just a nibble.
"I'm not that Hungry, no." He laid his palm flat against her cheek for a moment before moving to card his fingers through her hair. "I just missed you."
--
It took Justine effort, not to lean and kiss him just then. It was a combination of how his touch - and maybe the nibble - made her feel, and something in his voice, and his words...
There had been a time, after all, when a few hours' separation meant melting-against-him kisses such that even the memory of them made her head spin happily. But what if-- she could still recall his face after that first kiss, out in the garden, the first burn.
"Thomas." Familiar syllables, familiar cadence, and yet something about saying it felt new. Well, relatively new. It had three words tagged to it that hadn't been there before, when he'd frequently been touching her like that. "I've missed you too. Does this mean... What does this mean?" Does it mean that he didn't have to miss her, anymore?
Her own hand slid up over his shirt, then lifted off before it reached skin, hovering close to his own face.
If ever there was a willing doe...
--
"It means...there are options. For us." That they didn't have before. Even if they weren't immediate. "We can be together. We will be." And he wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of that. Not Lara, not Harry, not even Mab.
He pulled back, a little, feeling his concentration wavering, split too much between the sensation of her both physically and emotionally right there, the fierce protectiveness that arose in him when he thought of being kept from her, and keeping himself from pushing too much, too soon, too quickly. But he'd get better at it, he knew that, given time.
"How does that sound?"
--
Justine didn't whimper when he pulled back. She even held firm, and her chin didn't quiver. But after his last visit, the withdrawal of his touch was... sobering. She wondered if she was starting to feel queasy from the medications or something, but that was irrelevant, since Thomas was here now, and she could be sick to her heart's, or body's, contentment later. Her smile maybe wavered, but steadied after a moment, and her own fingers withdrew, resting on his shoulder.
"It sounds like something I didn't dare dream of, and - something I would, I do, want very much." Softly, she finished her thought. "It sounds like something that didn't just happen, and I am... I do not know what you had to give up, in exchange." Nothing comes from nothing... nothing ever could...
--
His gaze turned distant. What he'd given up?
Only his freedom.
"Nothing too dear," he grinned, once more the self-assured, almost-arrogant young man apparently unafraid of consequences. "Nothing I can't handle."
He hoped.
--
Justine's brows knit slightly for a moment. Could something like that actually be? Really really?
But. "But if it turns out to be more... I'll be - I'll help with whatever can be helped." She half-whispered. She knew that grin, and she knew he'd made a decision and he wasn't backing away. And if it made possible her being with him. "If it's too much, we'll think of something together."
Her fingers tightened around his shoulder, and then she ducked her head and leaned against his chest, carefully not touching skin to skin, just because he'd pulled back and that meant she wasn't supposed to touch him, but maybe, no, probably he needed what contact could be easy, if incomplete, as much as she did.
The closeness, the possibility made the expectation heavier, and yet richer. Promise. His promise.
His promises were always good.
--
Thomas sighed, "I know you will." She always did. In a way, that's what got them into this situation in the first place, wasn't it? Not that he blamed her. He was far too thankful.
He too was was careful not to touch skin to skin. Not until he was ready again. How did Harry do this sort of thing all the time?
Practice. Naturally.
"We should probably read something, while we're here." An alibi. And it was much easier to have an actual alibi than one you simply made up on the fly. And that had been one of their favorite activities together.
You know, besides the obvious.
--
Something about that sigh made her blink a little against him... Shouldn't I? but by the time she straightened up, she just nodded, then rose quietly to her feet to get something for reading. She didn't even look what it was, the first book that caught her eye, just so she could be back close to him sooner.
She settled beside him, and asked with a small smile, "you reading, or me?" If she was, he could rest with his head on her lap... Of if he did, she could just lose herself into his voice, the way he would read, his voice, his faster-than-natural awareness emphasizing things, letting her understand them better.
--
Thomas took the book from her and let her get comfortable again, "I will." He always liked watching her as he read, the expressions on her face as she listened to him and pictured the worlds spinning around them out of the book. "What did you get us, anyway?" he asked as he looked down at the book curiously. The King of Elfland's Daughter.
He may have, just a little, twitched. Of course it'd be a faerie-story.
--
Her face did fall on the expressive side, especially when the story was interesting, one could say. And he usually could make anything interesting. And she had always been attentive... and now more than ever. She did notice the - something, passing through his face.
"Should I go choose something else?"
--
Thomas shook his head, "no, this is fine." Of course it was.
Or he was really good at making it seem to be. "I just haven't read this one before." Which was true. And a little surprising. He'd read most of Justine's books at one time or another. Mostly because he'd given almost all of them to her.
--
This was Thomas. He was really good at making things look... fine. Or, well, at looking fine. One or the other or both. Justine nodded and settled to listen.
"If you want to, you can take it and then come back to return it." Not that he needed that much in terms of specific excuses, but... it was what she came up with.
He managed to magic her through a couple of chapters before he had to go, and there was a slight glimmer in her eye before they left.
Hope. For the first time in quite a while, Justine - and Thomas, by the feel and sound of it - had actual, tangible hope. It felt so very strange, all of a sudden. She supposed they'd get used to it, they had to much weirder things. But...
Hope.
--
Once he'd put the book down, Thomas gave her a grin before he left, called to his power once more -- it was getting easier -- and kissed her softly. "I'll see you soon, Justine."
And when he did leave, his step was lighter than it had been in, perhaps, months. Whatever happened because of this. Well, he could handle it.
Anything, for her.
Hell, he was making damn certain to avoid Maggie and Elaine as well for the very same reason. Which was getting awkward since he knew they'd start wondering soon enough what he was up to. Because of course he was only up to things when he went to great lengths not to be in the same area as someone. Of course.
The other reason he hadn't been seen much of was quite simple. He'd been practicing. He'd even taken a "break" from the salon -- the girls could handle things without him for a few days anyway -- so that he could go out of town a bit and work on figuring out this whole new power thing. Some part of him wished he could go to Harry with this. It would probably be easier. But then, it wasn't as difficult as he might have thought, either. No, most of it just seemed to revolve around him being very clear in his own mind one what he wanted to do. The rest of it flowed from there.
Besides, he figured it wouldn't be terribly long before Mab gave him an opportunity to really see what he could do. But until then, he had plans of his own.
Getting Justine.
Which was easier said than done, because he couldn't just waltz into the Raith Chateau and whisk her away.
Well, he could but...he was sort of genetically incapable of doing something that blatant. No, the best way to do it would be to manipulate Lara into simply giving her to him. That would take time to work on.
But until then, well, he could still visit, couldn't he?
--
There was... something about Thomas. Something new. The way his body positioned itself. Something. Justine couldn't quite put a finger on it, but maybe that was because initially she had duties to complete when he showed up, and she had to pretend, and that meant she couldn't keep her eyes on him every instant, and that meant she couldn't fully figure it out. And that meant she was curious.
Was it... because of what had happened last time? She willed her fingers away from curling, nails digging into her palms, at the thought of what had occurred - and then ended. She kept her features smooth. Slightly loopy, adoring of her mistress. All of that.
Until they were back into their room and she just leaned against the door as soon as it closed, suddenly tired by the effort. But her eyes were fixed on Thomas. Hungry. Some of his almost arrogant self-assurance seemed back. Maybe. Something.
But her first words were just, "welcome home."
--
Thomas' smile for Justine was absolutely radiant. "Thank you."
He wasn't quite reckless enough to just pull her to him. But he knew he'd have to test it somehow. So he could be forgiven for closing what remained of the distance between them and reaching out to touch her cheek.
Almost immediately, he hissed and pulled his hand away. But contrary to before, there was no despair in his gaze, just annoyance.
"Okay," he muttered, looking down at his fingertips, "it's not unconscious." And yes he probably isn't making a huge amount of sense to Justine. But he'll try to explain. In a minute.
--
Justine's eyes widened at the way he just reached and touched her, and for a moment just stayed pressed back to the door, not knowing ... why. What was happening. What she should do.
"Thomas... I don't want... Don't get hurt. I don't know what's going on, but--" She blinked as realization of something dawned on her.
"You know what happened last time. Or at least why. And there's more. Is that so?" She dared not reach for him right now, if he would answer her motion and get burned again, but, "was that a bad one?" A bad burn. Her eyes were not straying much from his face, from his eyes, but she did spare a glance in the direction of his hand.
--
He shook his head, rubbing his thumb against his fingertips. "No, it wasn't bad." He hadn't touched her for long, just enough to verify...
Then he caught her gaze, "but yes, you're right, I do know what happened." Thomas smiled ruefully, "now I just have to figure out how to replicate it." And that was the kicker.
Of course, some of the other things he'd tried had been a simple effort of will and concentration. It seemed to make sense that this would be similar. So he tried again, closing his eyes and believing the protection that surrounded her to be dampened. Once he thought he had it, he reached out to her again without opening his eyes.
He didn't burn this time. But it was an effort to hold onto and after only a moment, he pulled his hand back and looked at her. "I'm still getting the hang of it." But he looked pleased, fiercely pleased.
--
Justine had obviously not known Thomas when he first came into his own... 'normal' powers. She had not seen him before experimenting like this, coming into possession, into control of something new.
It was actually a little frightening, because it meant something had changed. Something had changed after all the time he couldn't touch her and suffered, it had changed after last time when he'd been confused and hurt, and she did not understand, at all, what it meant.
But she did know, beyond all doubt, that he'd not do anything against her. That she could trust him. Her eyes narrowed a little, after his fingers had left her cheek and the slight tingle there was fading, then she reached and took him by the sleeve and pulled him in the direction of the couch. "If that's so, let you at least get the hang of it where you're comfortable, hmm?"
If there was fear, it was, as so often, for him. That something was happening that he wasn't in control of, not completely. And anything like that could... turn on him.
And he already had one demon eating at him.
--
Thomas allowed her to pull him to the couch, settling easily down beside her. She was being awfully calm about this.
But she trusted him. He knew that. Even after all this time, it was odd for him to have someone trust him this much. Implicitly.
He smiled at her, "it'll probably take longer than one visit." But that was okay, it wasn't like he needed an excuse to see her more often. The only excuse was to make sure Lara or one of the others didn't start paying more attention to just what he did all the time with Justine.
He didn't even want to think about what might happen if they found out he could bypass the love protection on someone. Hmm..."someone". Would this work on anyone other than Justine? Was it his own desperate desire to touch her that enabled him to get this far with her? Did he dare test it out with anyone else? Did he need to?
No. He didn't need to. But it was intriguing.
--
She wasn't feeling calm, not really. Somewhere inside, she was abuzz, worrying. That something was happening that she didn't understand (not a rare thing) and possibly he didn't (a lot more unusual). That whatever it was that was happening, even if he could make it happen again, it would somehow go away again, for good, and...
She tucked her feet under her on the couch, looking at him - with a smile, because, "more visits? As long as you don't get burned," or at least, by the way he was going, burned MUCH, "that doesn't sound bad." Her voice was softer then. "Are you sure it's -- are you sure you're all right?" Chin slightly up, she added, "do I need to do anything?"
All the questions? Maybe one could tell Justine was a little confused. Or maybe something more was 'activating' along with his ability to touch her and was making her thoughts a bit mixed up.
"Will it stay, this time?" She didn't want him to recover it only so it would vanish again...
--
"It should." You know, assuming Mab didn't get a bee in her bonnet about something. But Justine didn't need to know that. "Before was a...taste. It wasn't something I was doing. This time it's me." He just hadn't got it controlled yet.
"I don't think you need to do anything except...be here." He couldn't do it without her, after all. "We'll take it slow." Idly, he scratched at the spot on his chest where he'd been branded, thinking. Maybe he was visualizing it all wrong and there was an easier way to do it.
Too bad there wasn't an easier way to test it.
--
'Be there' implied possibly 'hush and let me concentrate', so she nodded and leaned down her face slightly, a small smile on her lips. If he could touch her again...
But also, the smile was at - confidence and determination combination. It had been a while since she'd seen him like that. Her eyes flickered, uncomprehending, at the motion against his chest, why yes, she was following all his motions.
A taste. That usually means...
Something to buy, and pay for. Her throat clenched suddenly. She'd probably ask about what it had cost him, in a little bit. For the now, she tried to disbelieve her own conclusion. There was so much she didn't understand, it was possible this was among those occasions.
--
Once more, Thomas closed his eyes, this time visualizing the power differently. Imagining it working with his own power as one of the White Court, "freezing" the protection around Justine and bypassing it. It felt easier, not quite so much of a mental effort.
Once more, he touched her, his skin cool against hers. Smiling, Thomas opened his eyes, still touching her. No burning. He wouldn't bet he could manage this while say, kissing her. Or other things, but for now? This was enough. He'd get better.
And there was still an awful lot one could do with a simple touch.
--
Justine's reaction to his cool fingers was almost automatic. "Are you Hungry?" But the momentum with which she started got lost halfway through. It just felt ... it felt different. Maybe it was the way his eyes looked, not the way when--
Of course, his smile was making it hard for her to think very clearly. Her cheeks tightened with a return smile, and, emboldened by something in his expression, she leaned, very lightly, against his hand. It was tempting to just close her eyes against the sensation, but then she wouldn't be able to see his face, his eyes.
Instead, she just stood very still, inhaling deeply.
His smell hadn't ... changed that much. Had it?
--
He was Hungry, a little. He hadn't been to the salon in a few days, after all, and he certainly hadn't had anyone in his bed. But he'd been well fed before that. As she leaned into his touch, Thomas caressed her cheek gently, watching her reactions.
It was entirely possible he was Feeding. Just a nibble.
"I'm not that Hungry, no." He laid his palm flat against her cheek for a moment before moving to card his fingers through her hair. "I just missed you."
--
It took Justine effort, not to lean and kiss him just then. It was a combination of how his touch - and maybe the nibble - made her feel, and something in his voice, and his words...
There had been a time, after all, when a few hours' separation meant melting-against-him kisses such that even the memory of them made her head spin happily. But what if-- she could still recall his face after that first kiss, out in the garden, the first burn.
"Thomas." Familiar syllables, familiar cadence, and yet something about saying it felt new. Well, relatively new. It had three words tagged to it that hadn't been there before, when he'd frequently been touching her like that. "I've missed you too. Does this mean... What does this mean?" Does it mean that he didn't have to miss her, anymore?
Her own hand slid up over his shirt, then lifted off before it reached skin, hovering close to his own face.
If ever there was a willing doe...
--
"It means...there are options. For us." That they didn't have before. Even if they weren't immediate. "We can be together. We will be." And he wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of that. Not Lara, not Harry, not even Mab.
He pulled back, a little, feeling his concentration wavering, split too much between the sensation of her both physically and emotionally right there, the fierce protectiveness that arose in him when he thought of being kept from her, and keeping himself from pushing too much, too soon, too quickly. But he'd get better at it, he knew that, given time.
"How does that sound?"
--
Justine didn't whimper when he pulled back. She even held firm, and her chin didn't quiver. But after his last visit, the withdrawal of his touch was... sobering. She wondered if she was starting to feel queasy from the medications or something, but that was irrelevant, since Thomas was here now, and she could be sick to her heart's, or body's, contentment later. Her smile maybe wavered, but steadied after a moment, and her own fingers withdrew, resting on his shoulder.
"It sounds like something I didn't dare dream of, and - something I would, I do, want very much." Softly, she finished her thought. "It sounds like something that didn't just happen, and I am... I do not know what you had to give up, in exchange." Nothing comes from nothing... nothing ever could...
--
His gaze turned distant. What he'd given up?
Only his freedom.
"Nothing too dear," he grinned, once more the self-assured, almost-arrogant young man apparently unafraid of consequences. "Nothing I can't handle."
He hoped.
--
Justine's brows knit slightly for a moment. Could something like that actually be? Really really?
But. "But if it turns out to be more... I'll be - I'll help with whatever can be helped." She half-whispered. She knew that grin, and she knew he'd made a decision and he wasn't backing away. And if it made possible her being with him. "If it's too much, we'll think of something together."
Her fingers tightened around his shoulder, and then she ducked her head and leaned against his chest, carefully not touching skin to skin, just because he'd pulled back and that meant she wasn't supposed to touch him, but maybe, no, probably he needed what contact could be easy, if incomplete, as much as she did.
The closeness, the possibility made the expectation heavier, and yet richer. Promise. His promise.
His promises were always good.
--
Thomas sighed, "I know you will." She always did. In a way, that's what got them into this situation in the first place, wasn't it? Not that he blamed her. He was far too thankful.
He too was was careful not to touch skin to skin. Not until he was ready again. How did Harry do this sort of thing all the time?
Practice. Naturally.
"We should probably read something, while we're here." An alibi. And it was much easier to have an actual alibi than one you simply made up on the fly. And that had been one of their favorite activities together.
You know, besides the obvious.
--
Something about that sigh made her blink a little against him... Shouldn't I? but by the time she straightened up, she just nodded, then rose quietly to her feet to get something for reading. She didn't even look what it was, the first book that caught her eye, just so she could be back close to him sooner.
She settled beside him, and asked with a small smile, "you reading, or me?" If she was, he could rest with his head on her lap... Of if he did, she could just lose herself into his voice, the way he would read, his voice, his faster-than-natural awareness emphasizing things, letting her understand them better.
--
Thomas took the book from her and let her get comfortable again, "I will." He always liked watching her as he read, the expressions on her face as she listened to him and pictured the worlds spinning around them out of the book. "What did you get us, anyway?" he asked as he looked down at the book curiously. The King of Elfland's Daughter.
He may have, just a little, twitched. Of course it'd be a faerie-story.
--
Her face did fall on the expressive side, especially when the story was interesting, one could say. And he usually could make anything interesting. And she had always been attentive... and now more than ever. She did notice the - something, passing through his face.
"Should I go choose something else?"
--
Thomas shook his head, "no, this is fine." Of course it was.
Or he was really good at making it seem to be. "I just haven't read this one before." Which was true. And a little surprising. He'd read most of Justine's books at one time or another. Mostly because he'd given almost all of them to her.
--
This was Thomas. He was really good at making things look... fine. Or, well, at looking fine. One or the other or both. Justine nodded and settled to listen.
"If you want to, you can take it and then come back to return it." Not that he needed that much in terms of specific excuses, but... it was what she came up with.
He managed to magic her through a couple of chapters before he had to go, and there was a slight glimmer in her eye before they left.
Hope. For the first time in quite a while, Justine - and Thomas, by the feel and sound of it - had actual, tangible hope. It felt so very strange, all of a sudden. She supposed they'd get used to it, they had to much weirder things. But...
Hope.
--
Once he'd put the book down, Thomas gave her a grin before he left, called to his power once more -- it was getting easier -- and kissed her softly. "I'll see you soon, Justine."
And when he did leave, his step was lighter than it had been in, perhaps, months. Whatever happened because of this. Well, he could handle it.
Anything, for her.