Entry 542; Day 1087

[misterblackbird]

[Filtered from Known DELILAH Members || Unhackable]I should have known this curse will come upon us sooner or later this month: mistletoe growing from every corner and doorway. I can hardly think of a better sign of the season in the City than this. Truly, it is splendid. And one must, of course, observe the custom of the mistletoe. And the

Comments

as if I could pass up some of this [Action]

[primrosella]

[It's not hard to spot Cain in the City in winter, not when the buildings and skies go gray and desaturated, and he's there as always in black and white in the midst of it. She's not hard to spot, either, in her familiar old red woolen cloak, still bright and cheery despite the years she's had it in use, and for a moment they might well be nothing more than two strangers passing in the Square, standing out against the dreary day.

But still she stops, and looks, and can't decide if she dares get his attention or approach--because who knows who might be watching, and there are no such things as filters in the open air.]

[Action]

[primrosella]

[Her eyes have fallen closed before she quite realizes it, but this time, she lingers after the curse is over, murmuring low enough that he's the only one who ought to be able to hear.]

You're all right, then?

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

[He speaks just as quietly and warmly.]

I am. Are you?

[Action]

[primrosella]

[She nods slightly, nigh-imperceptible.]

You know I worry. And it's not quite so easy to see you as just stopping by anymore, is it.

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

[The effects of the curse have died off for the time being, but he'll still use this as an excuse to keep close to her--too close for proper decorum, but they are in tight quarters and they are what one might call close acquaintances.]

Yes, I know you do. And, no, I know it isn't.

[What more can he say?]

[Action]

[primrosella]

[She won't ask about Riff, even though she wants to. It's too easy to guess from the omission; if he'd been found, she would've heard of it. She's sure of that. And since she hasn't...no, better not to even ask.

She'll just take a moment to look at him instead, acutely aware of the proximity and finding it difficult to mind, propriety or not--because really, she has missed him, and all the sneaking around is wearying after awhile.]

It's all right. It's only complicated, not impossible.

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

Yes, I know.

I wish it didn't have to be complicated. That's why we're crowded here, in this shop, whispering to one another, instead of taking tea in the opera house or walking through a winter garden.

[Action]

[primrosella]

It wouldn't be the City if it weren't complicated, though, would it?

[She gives him a look.]

Really, I might even go so far as to say you're worth the trouble, you know.

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

It needn't be so complicated as it's become, though.

[But, still, that he would be worth the trouble somehow makes him...smile.]

I'd have to be a liar to say I wasn't flattered by that. I think I'm rather glad to be worth the trouble--after all, you're the one being put through it. And you're not any trouble at all to me.

[A pause...]

Well. That's not entirely true.

[Action]

[primrosella]

Oh? Not entirely true, is it?

[Strange, how the suggestion of being trouble once would've bothered her immensely, and yet at the moment she can't quite seem to mind it.]

How much trouble am I, then?

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

Shouldn't you like to be some trouble? It makes you rather more difficult to forget that way, you know.

[Action]

[primrosella]

[She's quiet a minute.]

Perhaps so, but I can think of a few other ways to be memorable, too.

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

And would you care to enlighten me on them?

[Action]

[primrosella]

[Well, really, that's just asking for a kiss, now, isn't it.]

[Action]

[misterblackbird]

[Really, it is. And it is a memorable one too~]